THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  NATION 


A  History  of  American  Slavery 
and  Enfranchisement 


BY 


GEORGE   S.   MERRIAM 


\ 


NEW  YORK 

HENRY    HOLT   AND    COMPANY 
1906 


-  -=• 


ERAl 


Copyright,  1906 

BY 
GEORGE   S.   MERRIAM 

Published  February,  1906 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGB 

I.    How   SLAVERY  GREW  IN  AMERICA i 

i  II.    THE  ACTS  OF  THE  FATHERS        8 

^III.    CONFLICT  AND  COMPROMISE 21 

X4  JV.    THE  WIDENING  RIFT 28 

Vv.    CALHOUN  AND  GARRISON 46 

VI.    BIRNEY,  CHANNING  AND  WEBSTER 58 

VII.    THE  UNDERLYING   FORCES      67 

VIII.    THE  MEXICAN  WAR       71 

IX.    How  TO  DEAL  WITH  THE  TERRITORIES 79 

X.    THE  COMPROMISE  OF  1850 84 

XI.    A  LULL  AND  A  RETROSPECT 92 

">•  XII.    SLAVERY  AS  IT  WAS      97 

XIII.  THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  KANSAS 112 

XIV.  "  FREMONT  AND  FREEDOM  " 122 

XV.    THREE  TYPICAL  SOUTHERNERS 132 

XVI.    SOME  NORTHERN  LEADERS 140 

XVII.    DRED  SCOTT  AND  LECOMPTON      147 

XVIII.    JOHN    BROWN 158 

XIX.    ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 172 

N.      /XX.    THE  ELECTION  OF   1860      185 

\V>XXI.    FACE  TO  FACE 197 

XXII.    How  THEY  DIFFERED 205 

NXXIII.    WHY  THEY  FOUGHT      211 

XXIV.    ON  NIAGARA'S  BRINK — AND  OVER 221 

XXV.    THE  CIVIL  WAR 237 

XXVI.    EMANCIPATION    BEGUN       248 

XXVII.    EMANCIPATION    ACHIEVED        258 

XXVIII.  RECONSTRUCTION:  EXPERIMENTS  AND  IDEALS  ....  267 

XXIX.    RECONSTRUCTION  :  THE  FIRST  PLAN 274 

XXX.    CONGRESS  AND  THE  "  BLACK  CODES  " 281 

iii 


1 55753 


IV 


Contents 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXXI.    RECONSTRUCTION:   THE   SECOND   PLAN 294 

XXXII.    RECONSTRUCTION:  THE  FINAL  PLAN 306 

XXXIII.  RECONSTRUCTION:  THE  WORKING  OUT 316 

XXXIV.  THREE  TROUBLED   STATES 331 

XXXV.    RECONSTRUCTION:  THE  LAST  ACT 344 

XXXVI.     REGENERATION 354 

XXXVII.    ARMSTRONG         362 

XXXVIII.    EVOLUTION 371 

XXXIX.    EBB  AND  FLOW      382 

XL.    LOOKING  FORWARD 391 

INDEX       413 


THE  NEGRO  AND  THE    NATION 

CHAPTER   I 

HOW  SLAVERY  GREW   IN  AMERICA 

AN  English  traveler,  riding  along  the  banks  of  the  Potomac 
in  mid-July,  1798,  saw  ahead  of  him  on  the  road  an  old- 
fashioned  chaise,  its  driver  urging  forward  his  slow  horse 
with  the  whip,  until  a  sharp  cut  made  the  beast  swerve,  and 
the  chaise  toppled  over  the  bank,  throwing  out  the  driver 
and  the  young  lady  who  was  with  him.  The  traveler — it 
was  John  Bernard,  an  actor  and  a  man  of  culture  and 
accomplishments,  spurred  forward  to  the  rescue.  As  he 
did  so  he  saw  another  horseman  put  his  horse  from  a  trot 
to  a  gallop,  and  together  they  reached  the  scene  of  action, 
extricated  the  woman  and  revived  her  from  her  swoon  with 
water  from  a  brook;  then  righted  the  horse  and  chaise, 
helped  to  restore  the  half-ton  of  baggage  to  its  place; 
learned  the  story  of  the  couple — a  New  Englander  return 
ing  home  with  his  Southern  bride — and  saw  them  safely 
started  again.  Then  the  two  rescuers,  after  their  half-hour 
of  perspiring  toil  in  a  broiling  sun,  addressed  themselves 
courteously  to  each  other ;  the  Virginian  dusted  the  coat  of 
the  Englishman,  and  as  Mr.  Bernard  returned  the  favor 
he  noticed  him  well, — "  a  tall,  erect,  well-made  man,  evi 
dently  advanced  in  years,  but  who  appeared  to  have  retained 
all  the  vigor  and  elasticity  resulting  from  a  life  of  tem 
perance  and  exercise.  His  dress  was  a  blue  coat,  buttoned 
to  the  chin,  and  buckskin  breeches."  The  two  men  eyed 
each  other,  half  recognizing,  half  perplexed,  till  with  a  smile 


2  .   •  ;;..:  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

_tlie. Virginian. exclaimed,  "Mr.  Bernard,  I  believe?"  and, 
xlaiming.  acquaintance  from  having  seen  him  on  the  stage 
and  heard  of  him  from  friends,  invited  him  to  come  and 
rest  at  his  house  near  by,  to  which  he  pointed.  That  familiar 
front,  the  now  wholly  familiar  face  and  form, — "  Mount 
Vernon!  Have  I  the  honor  of  addressing  General  Wash 
ington?"  With  a  charming  smile  Washington  offered  his 
hand,  replying,  "  An  odd  sort  of  introduction,  Mr.  Bernard ; 
but  I  am  pleased  to  find  you  can  play  so  active  a  part  in 
private  and  without  a  prompter."  There  followed  a  long 
and  leisurely  call  at  Mount  Vernon,  and  Bernard,  in  his 
volume  of  travels  which  did  not  see  the  light  for  nearly  a 
century,  has  given  a  most  graphic  and  winning  picture  of 
Washington  in  his  every-day  aspect  and  familiar  conversa 
tion.  To  the  actor's  keen  eye,  acquainted  with  the  best 
society  of  his  time,  the  near  approach  showed  no  derogation 
from  the  greatness  which  the  story  of  his  deeds  conveyed. 
"  Whether  you  surveyed  his  face,  open  yet  well  defined, 
dignified  but  not  arrogant,  thoughtful  but  benign ;  his  frame, 
towering  and  muscular,  but  alert  from  its  good  propor 
tions — every  feature  suggested  a  resemblance  to  the  spirit 
it  encased,  and  showed  simplicity  in  alliance  with  the  sub 
lime.  The  impression,  therefore,  was  that  of  a  most  perfect 
whole." 

The  talk  ran  a  various  course.  Washington  inciden 
tally  praised  the  New  Englanders,  "  the  stamina  of  the 
Union  and  its  greatest  benefactors."  The  Englishman 
acknowledged  a  tribute  to  his  own  country,  but  Wash 
ington  with  great  good  humor  responded,  "  Yes,  yes,  Mr. 
Bernard,  but  I  consider  your  country  the  cradle  of  free 
principles,  not  their  arm-chair."  He  had  proceeded  a 
little  way  in  a  eulogy  of  American  liberty,  when  a  black 
servant  entered  the  room  with  a  jug  of  spring  water.  Ber 
nard  smiled,  and  Washington  quickly  caught  his  look 


How  Slavery  Grew  in  America  3 

and  answered  it :  \ "  This  may  seem  a  contradiction,  but 
I  think  you  must  perceive  that  it  is  neither  a  crime  nor 
an  absurdity.  When  we  profess,  as  our  fundamental  prin 
ciple,  that  liberty  is  the  inalienable  right  of  every  man, 
we  do  not  include  madmen  or  idiots ;  liberty  in  their  hands 
would  become  a  scourge.  Till  the  mind  of  the  slave  has 
been  educated  to  perceive  what  are  the  obligations  of  a 
state  of  freedom,  and  not  confound  a  man's  with  a  brute's, 
the  gift  would  insure  its  abuse.  ,We  might  as  well  be 
asked  to  pull  down  our  old  warehouses  before  trade  has 
increased  to  demand  enlarged  new  ones.  Both  houses  and 
slaves  were  bequeathed  to  us  by  Europeans,  and  time  alone 
can  change  them;  an  event  which,  you  may  believe  me, 
no  man  desires  more  heartily  than  I  do.  Not  only  do  I 
pray  for  it  on  the  score  of  human  dignity,  but  I  can  clearly 
foresee  that  nothing  but  the  rooting  out  of  slavery  can  per 
petuate  the  existence  of  our  Union,  by  consolidating  it  in 
a  common  bond  of  principle." 

These  words  of  Washington,  with  the  incident  that  sup 
plies  their  background,  are  an  epitome  of  the  view  and 
attitude  of  that  great  man  toward  slavery.  Before  meas 
uring  their  full  significance,  and  the  general  situation  in 
which  this  was  an  element,  we  may  glance  at  the  prelim 
inary  questions ;  how  came  slaves  in  Virginia  and  America ; 
whence  came  slavery;  what  was  it? 

Primitive  man  killed  his  enemy  and  ate  him.  Later,  the 
sequel  of  battle  was  the  slaying  of  all  the  vanquished  and 
the  appropriation  of  their  goods,  including  women  and 
other  live  stock.  Then  it  was  found  more  profitable  to 
spare  the  conquered  warrior's  life  and  set  him  to  do  the 
victor's  disagreeable  work ;  more  profitable,  and  incidentally 
more  merciful.  Civilization  advanced;  wars  became  less 
general;  but  in  the  established  social  order  that  grew  up 
there  was  a  definite  place  for  a  great  class  of  slaves.  It 


4  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

was  part  of  Nature's  early  law,  the  strong  raising  them 
selves  upon  the  weak.  Morality  and  religion  by  degrees 
established  certain  limited  rights  for  the  slave.  But  the 
general  state  of  slavery  was  defended  by  philosophers  like 
Aristotle;  was  recognized  by  the  legislation  of  Judea, 
Greece,  and  Rome;  was  accepted  as  part  of  the  established 
order  by  Jesus  and  the  early  church.  It  is  beyond  our  lim 
its  here  to  measure  either  its  service,  as  the  foundation  on 
which  rested  ancient  society;  or  the  mischief  that  came 
from  the  supplanting  of  a  free  peasantry,  as  in  Italy.  We 
can  but  glance  at  the  influence  of  Christianity,  first  in 
ameliorating  its  rigor,  by  teaching  the  master  that  the 
slave  was  his  brother  in  Christ,  and  then  by  working 
together  with  economic  forces  for  its  abolition.  By  com 
plex  and  partly  obscure  causes,  personal  slavery — the  out 
right  ownership  of  man — was  abolished  throughout 
Christendom.  Less  inhuman  in  theory,  less  heartless  in 
practice,  though  inhuman  and  harsh  enough,  was  the  serf 
dom  which  succeeded  slavery  and  rested  on  Europe  for  a 
thousand  years ;  till  by  slow  evolution,  by  occasional  bloody 
revolt,  by  steady  advance  in  the  intelligence  and  power 
of  the  laborer,  compelling  for  him  a  higher  status,  the  serf 
became  a  hired  laborer  and  thence  a  citizen  throughout 
Europe.  •  i7 

The  recrudescerice  of  slavery  came  when  the  expanding 
energies  of  European  society,  in  the  seventeenth  and  eight 
eenth  centuries,  dashed  against  the  weak  barbarians  of 

^  Africa  and  America.  The  old  story  was  retold, — the 
stronger  man,  half-savage  still  under  the  veneer  of  civiliza 
tion  and  Christianity,  trampled  the  weaker /man  under  foot. 

/"In  Europe  there  was  little  need  or  room  for  slaves — the 
labor  supply  was  sufficient,  but  on  the  new  continent,  in  the 
words  of  Weeden  (Economic  and  Social  History  of  New 
England) :  "  The  seventeenth  century  organized  the  new 


How  Slavery.  Grew  in  America  5 

western  countries,  ana  created  an  immense  opportunity  for 
labor.  The  eighteenth  coolly  and  deliberately  set  Europe 
at  the  task  of  depopulating  whole  districts  of  western  Africa, 
and  of  transporting  the  captives,  by  a  necessarily  brutal, 
vicious  and  horrible  traffic,  to  the  new  civilization  of  Amer 
ica."  The  European  was  impartial  between  African  and 
Indian;  he  was  equally  ready  to  enslave  either;  but  the  In 
dian  was  not  made  for  captivity, — he  rebelled  or  ran  away 
or  died;  the  more  docile  negro  was  the  chief  victim.  The 
stream  of  slavery  moved  mainly  according  to  economic  con 
ditions.  Soil  and  climate  in  the  Northern  States  made  the 
labor  of  the  indolent  and  unthrifty  slave  unprofitable,  but  in 
the  warm  and  fertile  South,  developing  plantations  of  to 
bacco,  rice,  and  indigo,  the  negro  toiler  supplied  the  needed 
element  for  great  profitsj  The  church's  part  in  the  business 
was  mainly  to  find  excuse  ;  through  slavery  the  heathen  were 
being  made  Christians.  But  when  they  had  become  Chris 
tians  the  church  forgot  to  bid  that  they  be  made  brothers 
and  freemen.  Some  real  mitigation  of  their  lot  no  doubt 
there  was,  through  teaching  of  religion  and  from  other 
conditions.  Professor  Du  Bois  says  that  slavery  brought 
the  African  three  advantages:  it  taught  him  to  labor, 
gave  him  the  English  languag^y  ^arnd — after  a  sort — the 
Christian  religion.  I  But^^KTuined  snch  family  life  as  had 
existed  under  a  kind  of  regulated  polygamy.  Again  we  must 
decline  to  measure  the  good  and  the  evil  of  the  system. 
Probably  the  negro  was  in  better  condition  in  America  than 
he  had  been  in  Africa,  as  he  certainly  was  in  far  worse 
condition  than  he  was  entitled  to  be — and  was  in  future 
to  5e. 

The  traffic  was  maintained  chiefly  by  trading  companies 
in  England, — at  first  a  great  monopoly  headed  by  the 
Duke  of  York,  then  rival  companies.  The  colonists  made 
some  attempts  to  check  the  traffic, — growing  alarmed  at 


6  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  great  infusion  of  a  servile  and  barbaric  population. 
Virginia  long  tried  to  discourage  it  by  putting  a  heavy 
import  tax  on  slaves,  which  was  constantly  overruled  by 
the  English  government  under  the  influence  of  the  trading 
companies.  At  a  later  day  every  one  tried  to  put  the 
responsibility  of  slavery  on  some  one  else, — the  North  on 
the  South,  the  South  on  England.  But  in  truth  the  respon 
sibility  was  on  all.  The  colonists jdid jiot  hesitate  to  refuse 
to  receive  tea  which  England  taxed;  equally  well  they 
could  have  refused  to  buy  slaves  imported  by  trading  com 
panies  if  they  had  not  wanted  them ;  but  they  did  ^want 
them.  The  commercial  demand  overrode  humanity. 


wag  nr>f  ?W3^; — g^an^ap  i'tc 


now  seems.     Stranger  still,  as  we  shall  see,  after  it  had 
once  been  thoroughly  roused,  it  was  deliberately  drugged 
o  sleep.     Bttl  this  bekajgs^to  a  later  chapter.\ 

New  England  had  little  use  for  slaves  at  home,  but  for 
slave  ships  she  had  abundant  use.  With  a  sterile  soil,  and 
with  the  sea  at  her  doors  swarming  with  edible  fish  and 
beckoning  to  her  sails,  her  hardy  industry  found  its  best 
field  an  the  ocean.  The  fisheries  were  the  foundation  of 
her  commerce.  The  thrifty  Yankee  sold  the  best  of  his 
catch  in  Europe  (here  again  we  follow  Weeden)  ;  the 
medium  quality  he  ate  himself;  and  the  worst  he  sent  to 
the  West  Indies  to  be  sold  as  food  for  slaves.  With  the 
proceeds  the  skipper  bought  molasses  and  carried  it  home, 
where  it  was  turned  into  rum ;  the  rum  went  to  Africa  and 
was  exchanged  for  slaves,  and  the  slaves  were  carried  to 
the  West  Indies,  Virginia,  and  the  Carolinas.  Rum  and 
slaves,  two  chief  staples  of  New  England  trade  and  sources 
of  its  wealth;  slave  labor  the  foundation  on  which  was 
planted  the  aristocracy  of  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas, —  ' 
atesrfor-tsttr-gi^^  ^rlatr  ' 

grandchildren  find  to  say  01  tt$*^>  0  §Jft\J 


ow  Slavery  Grew  in  America  7 

/'fyt  social  conscience  was  not  developed  along  this  line ; 
m£n  were  unconscious  of  the  essential  wrong  of  slavery, 
or,  uneasily  conscious  of  something  wrong,  saw  not  what 
could  be  done,  a«d-kept  still.  Here  and  there  a  voice  was 
raised  in  protest.  There  was  fine  old  Samuel  Sewall,  Chief 
Justice  of  Massachusetts;  sincere,  faithful  man;  dry  and 
narrow,  because  in  a  dry  and  narrow  place  and  time ;  but 
with  the  capacity  for  growth  which  distinguishes  the  live 
root  from  the  dead.  He  presided  over  the  court  that 
adjudged  witches  to  death;  then,  when  the  community  had 
recovered  from  its  frenzy,  he  took  on  himself  deepest 
blame;  he  stood  up  in  his  pew,  a  public  penitent,  while  the 
minister  read  aloud  his  humble  confession,  and  on  a  stated 
day  in  each  year  he  shut  himself  up  in  solitude  to  mourn 
and  expiate  the  wrong  he  had  unwittingly  done,  and, 
almost  alone  among  his  people,  he  spoke  out  clear  and 
^trong  against  human  slavery. 

*    A  little  later,  in  the  generation  before  the  Revolution, 

yx-  came  the   Quaker,   John   Woolman, — a   gentle   and  lovely 

•  soul,  known  among  his  people  as  a  kind  of  lay  evangelist, 


raveling  among  their  communities  to  utter  sweet  persua- 
ive  words  of  holiness  and  uplifting;  known  in  our  day 
5  by  his  Journal,  a  book  of  saintly  meditations.  Sensitive 
r  and  shrinking,  he  yet  had  the  moral  insight  to  see  and  the 
courage  to  speak  against  the  wrong  of  slavery.  The 
Quakers,  rich  in  the  virtues  of  peace  and  kindliness,  were 
by  no  means  unpractical  in  the  ways  of  worldly  gain,  or 
inaccessible  to  its  temptations  ;  they  had  held  slaves  like 
their  neighbors,  though  we  should  probably  have  preferred 
a  Quaker  master.  But  the  seed  Woolman  sowed  fell  on 
good  ground ;  slavery  came  into  disfavor  among  the 
Quakers,  and  when  sentiment  against  it  began  to  grow 
they  lent  strength  to  the  leadership  of  the  public  con 
science. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  ACTS  OF  THE  FATHERS 

THE  revolt  of  the  colonists  from  British  rule  was  not 
inspired  originally  by  abstract  enthusiasm  for  the  rights 
of  man.  It  was  rather  a  demand  for  the  chartered  rights 
of  British  subjects,  according  to  the  liberal  principles  set 
forth  by  Locke  and  Chatham  and  Burke  and  Fox;  a 
demand  pushed  on  by  the  self-asserting  strength  of  com 
munities  become  too  vigorous  to  endure  control  from  a 
remote  seat  of  empire,  especially  when  that  control  was 
exercised  in  a  harsh  and  arbitrary  spirit.  The  revolutionary 
tide  was  swelled  from  various  sources :  by  the  mob  eager  to 
worry  a  red-coated  sentry  or  to  join  in  a  raid  under  Indian 
disguise;  by  men  who  embodied  the  common  sense  and 
rough  energy  of  the  plain  people,  like  Samuel  Adams  and 
Thomas  Paine;  by  men  of  practical  statesmanship,  like 
Franklin  and  Washington,  who  saw  that  the  time  had 
come  when  the  colonists  could  best  manage  their  own 
affairs;  and  by  generous  enthusiasts  for  humanity,  like 
Jefferson  and  Patrick  Henry. 

With  the  minds  of  thoughtful  men  thoroughly  wakened 
on  the  subject  of  human  rights,  it  was  impossible  not  to 
reflect  on  the  wrongs  of  the  slaves,  incomparably  worse 
than  those  against  which  their  masters  had  taken  up  arms. 
As  the  political  institutions  of  the  young  Federation  were 
remolded,  so  grave  a  matter  as  slavery  could  not  be  ignored. 
Virginia  in  1772  voted  an  address  to  the  King  remonstrat 
ing  against  the  continuance  of  the  African  slave  trade. 

8 


The  Acts  of  the  Fathers  9 

The  address  was  ignored,  and  Jefferson  in  the  first  draft 
of  the  Declaration  alleged  this  as  one  of  the  wrongs  suf 
fered  at  the  hands  of  the  British  government,  but  his  col 
leagues  suppressed  the  clause.  In  1778  Virginia  forbade 
the  importation  of  slaves  into  her  ports.  The  next  year 
Jefferson  proposed  to  the  Legislature  an  elaborate  plan 
for  gradual  emancipation,  but  it  failed  of  consideration. 
Maryland  followed  Virginia  in  forbidding  the  importation 
of  slaves  from  Africa.  Virginia  in  1782  passed  a  law  by 
which  manumission-- of  slaves,  which  before  had  required 
special  legislative  permission,  might  be  given  at  the  will 
of  the  master.  For  the  next  ten  years  manumission  went 
on  at  the  rate  of  8000  a  year.  Afterward  the  law  was  made 
more  restrictive.  Massachusetts  adopted  in  1780  a  con 
stitution  and  bill  of  rights,  asserting,  as  the  Declaration 
had  done,  that  all  men  are  born  free  and  have  an  equal  and 
inalienable  right  to  defend  their  lives  and  liberties,  to 
acquire  property  and  to  seek  and  obtain  freedom  and  happi 
ness.  A  test  case  was  made  up  to  decide  the  status  of  a 
slave,  and  the  Supreme  Court  ruled  that  under  this  clause 
slavery  no  longer  existed  in  Massachusetts.  Its  6000 
negroes  were  now  entitled  to  the  suffrage  on  the  same 
terms  as  the  whites.  The  same  held  good  of  the  free  blacks 
in  four  other  States.  In  all  the  States  but  Massachusetts 
slavery  retained  a  legal  existence,  the  number  ranging  in 
1790  from  158  in  New  Hampshire  to  nearly  4000  in  Penn 
sylvania,  over  21,000  in  New  York,  100,000  in  each  of 
the  Carolinas,  and  about  300,000  in  Virginia.  Ships  of 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  the  Middle  States  were 
still  busy  in  bringing  negroes  from  Africa  to  the  South, 
though  there  were  brave  men  like  Dr.  Hopkins  at  Newport 
who  denounced  the  traffic  in  its  strongholds. 

Jefferson  planned  nobly  for  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from 
the  whole  as  yet  unorganized  domain  of  the  nation,  a  meas- 


io  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

ure  which  would  have  belted  the  slave  States  with  free  ter 
ritory,  and  so  worked  toward  universal  freedom.  The 
sentiment  of  the  time  gave  success  to  half  his  plan.  His 
proposal  in  the  ordinance  of  1784  missed  success  in  the 
Continental  Congress  by  the  vote  of  a  single  State.  The 
principle  was  embodied  in  the  ordinance  of  1787  (when 
Jefferson  was  abroad  as  Minister  to  France),  but  with  its 
operations  limited  to  the  Northwestern  territory,  the  coun 
try  south  of  the  Ohio  being  left  under  the  influence  of  the 
slave  States  from  which  it  had  been  settled. 

The  young  nation  crystalized  into  form  in  the  constitu 
tional  convention  of  1787,  and  the  ratification  of  its  act  by 
the  people.  It  was  indeed,  as  John  Fiske's  admirable  book 
names  it,  "  the  critical  period  of  American  history."  To 
human  eyes  it  was  the  parting  of  the  ways  between  dis 
integration  toward  anarchy,  and  the  birth  of  a  nation  with 
fairer  opportunities  and  higher  ideals  than  any  that  had 
gone  before.  The  work  of  those  forty  men  in  half  a  year 
has  hardly  a  parallel.  Individually  they  were  the  pick  and 
flower  of  their  communities.  The  circumstances  compelled 
them  to  keep  in  such  touch  with  the  people  of  those  com 
munities  that  their  action  would  be  ratified.  They  included 
men  of  the  broadest  theoretical  statesmanship,  like  Madison 
and  Hamilton ;  men  of  great  practical  sense  and  mag 
nanimity,  like  Washington  and  Franklin;  and  they  also 
included  and  needed  to  include  the  representatives  of  vari 
ous  local  and  national  interests.  They  had  been  schooled 
by  the  training  of  many  momentous  years,  and  the  emer 
gency  brought  out  the  strongest  traits  of  the  men  and  of 
the  people  behind  them. 

A  prime  necessity  was  willingness  to  make  mutual  con 
cessions,  together  with  good  judgment  as  to  where  those 
concessions  must  stop.  Large  States  against  small  States, 
seaport  against  farm,  North  against  South  and  East  against 


The  Acts  of  the  Fathers  11 

West,  slave  society  against  free  society — each  must  be 
willing  to  give  as  well  as  to  take,  or  the  common  cause  was 
lost.  The  theorists,  too,  must  make  their  sacrifices;  the 
believers  in  centralization,  the  believers  in  diffusion  of 
power;  Madisonians,  Hamiltonians,  Jeffersonians — all 
must  concede  something,  or  there  could  be  no  nation.  And 
between  principles  of  moral  right  and  wrong, — here,  too, 
can  there  be  compromise?  Easy  to  give  a  sweeping  No; 
but  when  honest  men's  ideas  of  right  and  wrong  funda 
mentally  differ,  when  personal  ideals  and  social  utilities 
are  in  seeming  contradiction,  the  answer  may  be  no  easy 
one. 

The  great  difficulty  at  the  outset,  as  to  the  relative  power 
in  Congress  of  the  large  and  small  States,  was  settled  at 
last  by  the  happy  compromise  of  making  the  Senate  repre 
sentative  of  the  States  in  equality,  and  the  House  repre 
sentative  of  the  whole  people  alike.  But  then  came  the 
question,  Should  the  representation  be  based  on  numbers  or 
on  wealth  ?  The  decision  to  count  men  and  not  dollars  was 
a  momentous  one;  it  told  for  democracy  even  more  than 
the  framers  knew.  But  now  again,  Shall  this  count  of  men 
include  slaves?  Slaves,  who  have  no  voice  in  the  govern 
ment,  and  are  as  much  the  property  of  their  owners  as 
horses  and  oxen?  Yes,  the  slaves  should  be  counted  as 
men,  in  the  distribution  of  political  power, — so  said  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia.  In  that  demand  there  disclosed 
itself  what  proved  to  be  the  most  determined  and  aggres 
sive  interest  in  the  convention, — the  slavery  interest  in  the 
two  most  southern  States.  Virginia,  inspired  and  led  by 
Washington,  Madison,  and  Mason,  was  unfriendly  to  the 
strengthening  of  the  slave  power,  and  the  border  and  cen 
tral  as  well  as  the  eastern  States  were  inclined  the  same 
way.  But  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  united  and  deter 
mined,  had  this  powerful  leverage;  from  the  first  dispute, 


12  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

their  representatives  habitually  declared  that  unless  their 
demands  were  granted  their  States  would  not  join  the 
Union.  Now  it  had  been  agreed  that  the  Constitution 
should  only  become  operative  on  the  assent  by  popular 
vote  of  nine  of  the  thirteen  States,  and  it  was  plain 
that  at  the  best  there  would  be  great  difficulty  in 
getting  that  number.  With  two  lost  in  advance 
the  case  looked  almost  hopeless.  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  saw  their  advantage,  and  pushed  it  with 
equal  resolution  and  dexterity.  The  question  of  repre 
sentation  was  settled  by  a  singular  compromise:  To  the 
free  population  was  to  be  added  in  the  count  three-fifths  of 
the  slave  population.  The  slave  was,  for  political  purposes, 
three-fifths  a  man  and  two-fifths  a  chattel.  Illogical  to 
grotesqueness,  this  arrangement — in  effect  a  concession  to 
the  most  objectionable  species  of  property  of  a  political 
advantage  denied  to  all  other  property — yet  seemed  to  the 
wisest  leaders  of  the  convention  not  too  heavy  a  price  for 
the  establishment  of  the  Union.  The  provision  that  fugi 
tive  slaves  should  be  returned  had  already  been  made,  appar 
ently  with  little  opposition. 

But  the  price  was  by  no  means  all  paid.  When  the  powers 
of  Congress  came  to  be  defined,  the  extreme  South 
demanded  that  it  be  not  allowed  to  forbid  the  importation 
of  African  slaves.  With  the  example  of  Virginia  and 
Maryland  in  view,  it  was  clear  that  the  tide  was  running 
so  strongly  against  the  traffic  that  Congress  was  sure  to 
prohibit  it  unless  restrained  from  doing  so.  Against  such 
restraint  there  was  strong  protest  from  Virginia  and  the 
middle  States.  "  The  traffic  is  infernal,"  said  Mason  of 
Virginia.  "  To  permit  it  is  against  every  principle  of  honor 
and  safety,"  said  Dickinson  of  Delaware.  But  the  two 
Pinckneys  and  their  colleague  said,  "  Leave  us  the  traffic,  or 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia  will  not  join  your  Union."  The 


The  Acts  of  the  Fathers  13 

leading  members  from  the  northern  and  New  England 
States  actually  favored  the  provision,  te  conciliate  the  ex 
treme  South.  The  matter  went  to  a  committee  of  one  from 
each  State  There  it  was  discussed  along  with  another  ques 
tion  :  It  had  been  proposed  to  restrict  Congress  from  legis 
lating  on  navigation  and  kindred  subjects  except  by  a  two- 
thirds  vote  of  each  House.  This  went  sorely  against  the 
commercial  North,  which  was  eager  to  wield  the  whole 
power  of  the  government  in  favor  of  its  shipping  interests. 
Of  this  power  the  South  was  afraid,  and  how  well  grounded 
was  the  importance  each  section  attached  to  it  was  made 
plain  when  a  generation  later  the  North  used  its  dearly- 
bought  privilege  to  fashion  such  tariff  laws  as  drove  South 
Carolina  to  the  verge  of  revolt.  Now  in  the  committee  a 
bargain  was  struck :  The  slave  trade  should  be  extended  till 
1800,  and  in  compensation  Congress  should  be  allowed  to 
legislate  on  navigation  as  on  other  subjects.  The  report 
coming  into  the  convention,  South  Carolina  was  still  unsat 
isfied.  "  Eight  more  years  for  the  African  trade,  until 
1808,"  said  Pinckney,  and  Gorham  of  Massachusetts  sup 
ported  him.  Vainly  did  Madison  protest,  and  Virginia, 
Delaware,  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  vote  against  the 
whole  scheme.  The  alliance  of  New  England  commerce 
and  Carolina  slavery  triumphed,  and  the  African  slave  trade 
was  sanctioned  for  twenty  years. 

For  the  compromise  on  representation  it  might  be  pleaded, 
that  by  it  no  license  was  given  to  wrong;  there  was  only 
a  concession  of  disproportionate  power  to  one  section,  fairly 
outweighed  in  the  scale  of  the  public  good  by  the  establish 
ment  of  a  great  political  order.  But  the  action  on  the  slave 
trade  was  the  deliberate  sanction  for  twenty  years  of  man- 
stealing  of  the  most  flagitious  sort.  It  was  aimed  at  the 
strengthening  and  perpetuation  of  an  institution  which 
even  its  champions  at  that  time  only  defended  as  a 


14  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

necessary  evil.  And  this  action  was  taken,  not  after  all 
other  means  to  secure  the  Union  had  been  exhausted,  but 
as  the  price  which  New  England  was  willing  to  pay  for  an 
advantage  to  her  commercial  interests. 

At  a  later  day,  there  were  those  who  made  it  a  reproach 
to  the  convention,  and  a  condemnation  of  their  whole  work, 
that  they  imposed  no  prohibition  on  slavery  as  it  existed 
in  the  States.  But  if  such  prohibition  was  to  be  attempted, 
the  convention  might  as  well  never  have  met.  The  whole 
theory  of  the  occasion  was  that  the  States,  as  individual 
communities,  were  to  be  left  substantially  as  they  were; 
self-governing,  except  as  they  intrusted  certain  definite 
I  functions  to  the  general  government.  When  only  a  single 
I  State,  and  that  almost  without  cost,  had  abolished  slavery 
within  itself,  it  was  out  of  the  question  that  all  of  the  States 
should  through  their  common  agents  decree  an  a~ct  of  social 
virtue  wholly  beyond  what  they  had  individually  achieved. 
Any  human  State  exists  only  by  tolerating  in  its  individual 
citizens  a  wide  freedom  of  action,  even  in  matters  of  ethical 
quality ;  and  a  federated  nation  must  allow  its  local  com 
munities  largely  to  fix  their  own  standard  of  social  con 
duct.  At  the  point  which  the  American  people  had  reached, 
the  next  imperative  step  of  evolution  was  that  they  unite 
themselves  in  a  social  organism,  such  as  must  allow  free 
play  to  many  divergencies.  For  the  convention  to  take 
direct  action  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  was  beyond  the 
possibilities  of  the  case.  It  was  in  making  provision  "for 
the  extension  of  the  evil  that  it  was  untrue  to  its  ideal, 
sacrificed  its  possibilities,  and  opened  the  door  for  the  long 
domination  of  a  mischievous  element. 

But  the  main  work  of  the  convention  was  well  and  wisely 
done.  Not  less  fine  was  the  self-control  and  sagacity  with 
which  the  people  and  their  leaders  debated  and  finally 
adopted  the  new  order.  Advocates  of  a  stronger  govern- 


The  Acts  of  the  Fathers  15 

ment,  like  Hamilton,  and  champions  of  a  more  popular  sys 
tem,  like  Samuel  Adams  and  Jefferson,  sank  their  prefer 
ences  and  successfully  urged  their  constituents  to  accept 
this  as  the  best  available  settlement.  Slavery  played  very 
little  part  in  the  popular  discussions,  and  only  a  few  keen 
observers  like  Madison  read  the  portents  in  that  quarter. 
The  young  nation  was  swept  at  once  into  difficulties  and 
struggles  in  other  directions. 

A  word,  before  we  follow  the  history,  as  to  the  senti 
ments  of  the  great  leaders  in  this  period.  ^Broadly,  they  all 
viewed  slavery  as  a  wrong  and  evil ;  they  looked  hopefully 
for  its  early  extinction;  they  recognized  great  difficulties 
in  adapting  the  negro  to  conditions  of  freedom;  and  they 
were  in  general  too  much  absorbed  in  other  and  pressing 
problems 'to  direct  much  practical  effort  toward  emancipa 
tion.  Washington's  view  is  nowhere  better  given  than  in  the 
casual  talk  so  graphically  reported  by  Bernard.  He  desired 
universal  liberty,  but  believed  it  would  only  come  when 
the  negroes  were  fit  for  it ;  at  present  they  were  as  unquali 
fied  to  live  without  a  master's  control  as  children  or  idiots, 
ffiashington/s  way  was  to  look  at  facts  and  to  deal  with  a 
situation  as  he  found  it,  and  not  to  try  to  order  the  world 
by  general  and  abstract  ideals.  He  was  intensely  practical, 
responsive  to  each  present  call  of  duty,  and  in  his  concep 
tion  of  duty  taking  wider  and  wider  views  as  he  was  trained 
by  years  and  experience.  The  incident  which  brought  him 
and  Bernard  together  was  characteristic ;  if  any  chaise  was 
upset  in  his  neighborhood,  trust  Washington  to  have  a 
hand  in  righting  it!  The  natural  reply  to  his  talk  about 
the  negroes  might  have  been :  "  Since  you  desire  their 
freedom,  but  think  them  not  fit  for  it,  why  not  make  a  busi 
ness — you  and  the  country — of  making  them  fit?"  And 
the  answer  fairly  might  have  been :  "  The  country  and  I 
have  as  yet  had  too  much  else  to  do."  Besides  his  public 


1 6  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

services,  he  was  a  planter  on  the  largest  scale;  thousands 
of  acres  and  hundreds  of  slaves  had  come  to  him  by  inherit 
ance  and  by  marriage.  He  was  most  thorough  and  success 
ful  in  his  private  affairs ;  through  all  his  cares  in  the  Revo 
lution,  scarcely  ever  visiting  his  home,  he  kept  in  close 
touch  with  his  steward  and  regulated  the  plantation's  man 
agement  by  constant  correspondence.  He  had  the  reputa 
tion  of  a  just  but  strict  master.  His  slaves  were  well  fed 
and  clothed;  they  were  supported  in  infancy  and  old  age; 
they  were  trained  in  work  according  to  their  capacity,  and 
taught  something  of  morals  and  religion ;  in  point  of  phys 
ical  comfort  and  security,  and  of  industrial  and  moral 
development,  they  were  by  no  means  at  the  bottom  of  the 
scale  of  humanity.  The  slave-holder's  position,  however 
unjust  by  an  absolute  standard,  and  with  great  possibilities 
of  abuse,  was,  in  the  case  of  the  rightly-disposed  man — 
and  such  were  common — a  position  which  had  its  grave 
duties  and  often  onerous  burdens  to  be  conscientiously 
borne. 

Hardly  was  the  war  ended  when  the  country's  needs  sum 
moned  Washington  again  to  long  and  arduous  service. 
Retired  from  the  Presidency,  his  successor  called  him,  not 
in  vain,  to  head  the  army  which  the  threatened  French  war 
would  call  into  action.  Who  can  blame  him  that  he  did 
not  undertake  in  addition  a  complete  reorganization  of  the 
labor  system  of  his  own  farms  and  of  Virginia?  Incon 
sistent  perhaps  it  was, — a  very  human  inconsistency, — that 
his  slaves,  who,  he  told  Bernard,  were  unfit  for  freedom, 
were  given  their  freedom  by  his  will,  though  not  until  his 
wife's  death.  That  we  may  take  as  an  imperfect  essay  of 
conscience  to  deal  with  a  situation  so  complicated  that  no 
ideal  solution  was  apparent.  But  we  may  fairly  read  as 
his  unspoken  legacy  to  his  countrymen  of  the  next  genera 
tion  :  "  My  associates  and  I  have  won  national  indepen- 


The  Acts  of  the  Fathers  17 

dence,  social  order,  and  equal  rights  for  our  own  race; 
deal  you  as  courageously  and  strongly  with  the  problems 
which  remain." 

Jefferson  was  an  enthusiast  for  moral  ideals,  and  a  warm 
believer  in  the  merit  and  trustworthiness  of  average 
humanity.  He  ennobled  the  struggle  of  the  colonies 
against  England  by  writing  on  the  flag  the  universal  and 
undying  ideas  that  the  authority  of  governments  rests  solely 
on  their  justice  and  public  utility,  and  that  every  man  has 
an  inalienable  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  hap 
piness.  And  Jefferson  did  not  flinch,  as  did  many  of  his 
associates,  from  giving  that  right  a  full  and  general  applica 
tion  to  blacks  as  well  as  whites.  Nor  was  he  a  mere  doc 
trinaire.  As  he  revolted  from  the  abstract  injustice  of 
slavery,  so  its  concrete  abuses  as  he  saw  them,  filled  him 
with  horror.  He  wrote :  "  I  tremble  for  my  country  when 
I  reflect  that  God  is  just."  He  described  what  he  had 
seen.  "  The  whole  commerce  between  master  and  slave 
is  a  perpetual  exercise  of  the  most  boisterous  passions, — the 
most  unremitting  despotism  on  the  one  part  and  degrading 
submission  on  the  other.  Our  children  see  this,  and  learn 
to  imitate  it,  for  man  is  an  imitative  animal.  .  .  .  The 
parent  storms,  the  child  looks  on,  catches  the  lineaments 
of  wrath,  puts  on  the  same  airs  in  the  circle  of  smaller 
slaves,  gives  a  loose  rein  to  the  worst  of  passions ;  and  thus 
nursed,  educated,  and  daily  exercised  in  tyranny,  cannot 
but  be  stamped  by  it  with  odious  peculiarities." 

But  Jefferson  shared  a  common  belief  of  his  time,  that 
it  was  futile  to  hope  to  "  retain  and  incorporate  the  blacks 
into  the  State."  He  wrote :  "  Deep-rooted  prejudices  of 
the  whites,  ten  thousand  recollections  of  blacks  of  injuries 
sustained,  new  provocations,  the  real  distinction  Nature 
has  made,  and  many  other  circumstances,  will  divide  us 
into  parties  and  produce  convulsions  which  will  probably 


The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

never  end  but  in  the  extermination  of  one  or  the  other 
race."  So  he  looked  for  a  remedy  to  emancipation  followed 
by  deportation.  But  he  hesitated  to  affirm  any  essential 
inferiority  in  the  negro  race.  He  wrote:  "The  opinion 
that  they  are  inferior  in  the  faculties  of  reason  and  imagina 
tion  must  be  hazarded  with  great  diffidence."  Later  he 
wrote  that  "  they  were  gaining  daily  in  the  opinions  of 
nations,  and  hopeful  advances  are  making  toward  their 
re-establishment  on  an  equal  footing  with  other  colors  of 
the  human  family." 

Jefferson  was  more  than  a  theorist  ;  he  was  skillful  to 
persuade  men,  and  to  organize  and  lead  a  party.  His  gen 
eral  tendency  was  "  along  the  line  of  least  resistance," — the 
summoning  of  men  to  free  themselves  from  oppressive 
restraint;  and  he  was  highly  successful  until  he  called  on 
them  for  severe  self-sacrifice,  when  his  supporters  were  apt 
suddenly  to  fail  him.  Virginia  gladly  followed  his  lead 
in  abolishing  primogeniture  and  entail,  and  overthrowing 
the  Established  Church.  She  even  consented,  in  1778,  to 
abolish  the  African  slave-trade,  being  then  in  little  need 
of  more  slaves  than  she  possessed.  In  1779  he  planned  a 
far  more  radical  and  costly  project — a  general  emancipa 
tion.  All  slaves  born  after  the  passage  of  the  act  were 
to  be  free;  they  were  to  dwell  with  their  parents  till  a 
certain  age,  then  to  be  educated  at  the  public  expense  in 
"  tillage,  arts,  or  sciences,"  until  the  males  were  twenty-one 
years  old  and  the  females  eighteen;  then  they  were  to  be 
colonized  in  some  suitable  region,  furnished  with  arms,  im 
plements,  seeds  and  cattle ;  declared  a  free  and  independent 
people,  under  American  protection  until  strong  enough  to 
stand  alone;  and  meanwhile  their  place  as  laborers  was  to 
be  filled  by  whites  sent  for  by  vessels  to  other  parts  of  the 
world.  It  is  hardly  strange  that  the  Legislature  did  not 
even  take  the  measure  into  consideration,  and  it  does  not 


The  Acts  of  the  Fathers  19 

appear  that  Jefferson  ever  returned  to  it.  Practical  legis 
lation  was  not  his  forte.  But  his  influence  told  nobly,  as 
has  been 'related,  in  barring  slavery  from  the  Northw^ieru- 
territory,  and,  had  just  a  little  more  support  been  found  in 
1784,  would  have  saved  the  Southwest  also  to  freedom, 
with  almost  certain  promise  of  result  in  early  freeing  of 
the  whole  country.  Just  two  or  three  votes  in  the  Conti 
nental  Congress, — on  such  small  hinges  does  the  destiny 
of  nations  seem  to  turn. 

The  inertia  which  holds  men  even  exceptionally  high- 
minded  from  breaking  strong  ties  of  custom  and  conve 
nience  is  shown  by  a  letter  of  Patrick  Henry  to  a  Quaker 
in  1773,  in  which  he  declared  slavery  "  as  repugnant  to 
humanity  as  it  is  inconsistent  with  the  Bible  and  destructive 
of  liberty.  Every  thinking,  honest  man  rejects  it  as  specu 
lation,  but  how  few  in  practice  from  conscientious  motives ! 
Would  any  one  believe  that  I  am  a  master  of  slaves  of  my 
own  purchase?  I  am  drawn  along  by  the  general  incon 
venience  of  living  without  them." 

There  is  no  need  to  dwell  further  on  the  anti-slavery  senti 
ments  of  the  group  of  great  leaders  who  were  the  glory  of 
the  nation.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  Franklin  took  a  char 
acteristically  active  part  in  aiding  to  establish  an  anti-slavery 
society  in  Philadelphia  in  1782.  Shrewd  as  he  was  high- 
minded  and  benevolent,  Franklin  was  always  a  special  mas 
ter  in  organizing  men  in  societies  for  effective  and  progres 
sive  action.  His  tact  won  France  to  the  American  alliance, 
and  decisively  turned  the  scale  in  the  Revolutionary  war; 
and  his  conciliatory  yet  resolute  spirit  was  a  main  factor 
in  the  constitutional  convention.  This  Pennsylvania  anti- 
slavery  society  led  the  way  to  the  early  adoption  by  the 
State  of  gradual  emancipation.  Franklin,  an  optimist  by 
temperament  and  by  his  large  faith  in  mankind,  looked  con 
fidently  for  the  early  end  of  slavery ;  as  fast  as  men  ripened 


2O  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

into  honesty  and  sense,  he  thought,  they  would  recognize 
the  folly  and  wrong  of  it. 

Looking  from  the  leaders  to  the  mass  of  the  community, 
4n  this  early  period,  we  see  these  broad  facts.  \  Slavery  was 
regarded  by  all  as  an  evil,  and  by  most  as  a  wrong.  Even 
its  champions  in  the  convention  claimed  no  more  for  it  than 
that  it  was  a  necessary  evil ;  one  of  the  Pinckneys  expressed 
the  hope  of  its  extinction  at  an  early  day,  and  the  other 
Pinckney  dissented  only  in  thinking  this  too  sanguine. 
Further,  there  was  a  distinct  wave  of  anti-slavery  sentiment, 
sympathetic  with  the  lofty  temper  of  the  Revolution  and 
the  genesis  of  a  free  nation.  That  wave  was  strong  enough 
to  wipe  out  slavery  where  its  economic  hold  was  slight; 
it  was  plainly  destined  to  sweep  at  least  through  all  the 
Northern  and  Middle  States,  and  hope  was  high  that  it 
might  go  farther.  ^But  this  moral  enthusiasm  broke  help 
less  against  the  institution  wherever  a  strong  property 
interest  was  involved  with  it.  Manumission  in  the  South 
went  no  further  than  a  few  individuals.  Virginia  and  Mary 
land,  needing  no  more  slaves,  ceased  importing  them;  but 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia  bargained  successfully  for  a 
twenty  years'  supply.  Massachusetts,  having  almost  inad 
vertently  freed  her  few  slaves,  was  willing  that  the  stream 
f  of  misery  should  still  flow  on  from  Africa  to  the  South. 
In  a  word,  so  far  as  the  negroes  were  concerned,  the  sup 
posed  jna^ej^ajjnterest  of  the  whites  remained  the  dominat 
ing  factor  throughout  the  country. 


CHAPTER   III 

CONFLICT  AND  COMPROMISE 

FOR  thirty  years  after  the  Constitution  was  established, 
slavery  falls  into  the  background  of  the  national  history. 
Other  and  absorbing  interests  were  to  the  front.  First, 
the  strife  of  Federalist  and  Democrat :  Should  the  central 
government  be  strengthened,  or  should  the  common  people 
be  more  fully  trusted?  Twelve  years  of  conservative 
ascendency  under  Washington  and  Adams ;  then  a  complete 
and  lasting  triumph  for  the  popular  party  led  by  Jefferson. 
Mixed  with  and  succeeding  this  came  an  exasperating  and 
perplexing  struggle  for  commercial  rights,  invaded  equally 
by  England  and  France  in  their  gigantic  grapple ;  an  inef 
fectual  defense  by  Jefferson,  who  in  executive  office  proved 
an  unskillful  pilot;  a  half-hearted  war  under  Madison,  a 
closet  statesman  out  of  place  in  the  Presidential  chair ;  a 
temporary  alienation  of  New  England,  exasperated  by  the 
loss  of  her  commerce  and  suspicious  of  the  Jeffersonian 
influence;  a  participation  in  the  general  peace  which  fol 
lowed  1815,  and  a  revival  of  industry.  Under  this  surface 
tide  of  events  went  on  a  steady,  quiet  advance  of  the  dem 
ocratic  movement.  With  Jefferson's  administration  disap 
peared  the  Federal  party  and  the  old  distrust  of  the  common 
people.  State  after  State  gave  up  the  property  qualification 
— almost  universal  in  the  first  period — and  adopted  man 
hood  suffrage.  Slavery  disappeared  from  the  North;  in 
New  Hampshire  it  was  abolished  by  judicial  decision,  as 
in  Massachusetts ;  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island  and  Penn 
sylvania  passed  gradual  emancipation  laws,  and  a  little  later 

21 


22  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

New  York  and  New  Jersey  did  the  same.  In  Kentucky, 
settled  by  hardy  pioneers  from  Virginia,  there  had  been  a 
vigorous  campaign  to  establish  a  free  State;  the  Baptist 
preachers,  strong  leaders  in  morals  and  religion,  had  cham 
pioned  the  cause  of  freedom;  the  victory  seemed  decisively 
won,  by  three  to  one  it  was  said,  in  the  election  of  May, 
1798;  but  a  torrent  of  excitement  over  the  alien  and  sedition 
laws  submerged  other  issues,  and  the  convention  sanctioned 
slavery  as  it  existed.  The  African  slave  trade  was  made 
piracy  by  act  of  Congress  in  1808,  though  the  extreme 
penalty  was  not  inflicted  for  sixty  years,  and  a  considerable 
traffic  still  went  on.  In  furtherance  of  emancipation,  a 
colonization  society  was  started  in  Pennsylvania,  and  in 
a  few  years  it  had  transported  20,000  freed  negroes  to 
Africa,  and  established  the  feeble  colony  of  Liberia.  Mean 
while  the  first  French  republic  had  freed  half  a  million 
slaves  in  the  West  Indies ;  and  Chili,  Buenos  Ayres,  Colum 
bia,  and  Mexico,  as  they  gained  their  independence  from 
Spain,  had  abolished  slavery.  The  European  reaction 
against  the  French  republic  and  empire  had  largely  spent 
itself;  the  English  tradition  of  constitutional  freedom  had 
survived  and  promised  to  spread;  the  Spanish  colonies  in 
America  had  won  their  independence. 

The  stiller  and  deeper  current  of  industrial  progress  had 
moved  on  apace  in  the  United  States.  A  new  New  England 
was  being  swiftly  built  in  the  Northwest.  The  Southwest, 
too,  was  growing  fast.  The  acquisition  of  the  Louisiana 
territory,— through  an  exigency  of  Napoleon's  politics,  and 
the  wise  inconsistency  of  Jefferson — had  opened  another 
vast  domain.  At  the  North,  commerce,  set  free  again, 
spread  rapidly,  and  a  new  era  of  manufactures  was  open 
ing.  The  South — more  diffusely  settled,  with  less  social 
activity,  with  a  debased  labor  class— caught  less  of  the 
spirit  of  advance.  But  on  one  line  it  gained.  Fol- 


Conflict  and  Compromise  23 

lowing  the  English  inventions  in  spinning  and  weaving, 
and  the  utilization  of  the  stationary  steam-engine,  a 
Connecticut  man,  Eli  Whitney,  had  invented  a  cotton- 
gin,  for  separating  the  seed  from  the  fibre,  and  the  cot 
ton  plant  came  to  the  front  of  the  scene.  The  crop  rose 
in  value  in  twenty  years  from  $6,000,000  to  $20,000,000. 
The  value  of  slaves  was  trebled,  and  the  border  States  began 
to  do  a  thriving  trade  in  exporting  them  to  the  cotton 
States — it  was  said  a  little  later  the  yearly  export  reached 
50,000. 

As  new  States  were  organized  and  admitted,  those  from 
the  Northwest  came  in  without  slavery,  which  had  been 
kept  out  by  the  ordinance  of  1787,  and  those  from  the 
Southwest,  where  slaves  had  been  carried  by  the  emigrants 
from  the  seaboard,  were  allowed  without  question  to  retain 
the  institution.  Of  the  old  thirteen,  New  Hampshire, 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  New  York 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania  (spite  of  a  few  slaves  linger 
ing  in  the  last  three)  were  counted  as  free  States — seven 
in  all;  Virginia,  Maryland,  Delaware,  the  two  Carolinas, 
Georgia,  were  claimed  as  slave  States — six.  Speedily 
were  added  Vermont  to  the  one  column,  and  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee  to  the  other,  making  the  numbers  equal.  The 
following  acquisitions  were  free  and  slave  States  alter 
nately:  Ohio  and  Louisiana,  Indiana  and  Mississippi, 
Illinois  and  Alabama,  a  total,  so  far,  of  eleven  free  and 
eleven  slave.  Of  the  new  Southwestern  domain,  Arkansas 
had  been  organized  as  a  territory,  early  in  1819,  and  a 
motion  that  slavery  be  excluded  had  been  defeated  in  the 
House  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  speaker,  Henry  Clay. 

But  in  all  these  thirty  years  the  subject  of  slavery  had 
little  prominence  in  public  discussion.  Now  it  suddenly 
came  to  the  front.  A  bill  was  brought  into  Congress  to  per 
mit  Missouri  to  organize  as  a  State.  It  was  part  of  the 


24  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

Louisiana  purchase,  of  which  the  Southern  portion  had  in 
herited  and  retained  slavery ;  but  Missouri  was  geographic 
ally  an  extension  of  the  region  of  the  Ohio  States,  in  which 
free  labor  had  made  an  established  and  congenial  home. 
It  was  moved  in  Congress  that  slavery  should  be  excluded 
from  the  new  State,  and  on  this  instantly  sprang  up  a 
fiery  debate.  On  one  side  it  was  urged  that  slavery  was 
a  wrong  and  an  evil,  and  that  Congress  had  full  power 
to  exclude  it  from  a  State  as  a  condition  of  admittance 
to  the  Union.  On  the  other  side  slavery  was  defended 
not  only  as  an  industrial  advantage,  but  as  morally  right 
and  a  benefit  to  both  blacks  and  whites.  It  was  strenu 
ously  declared  that  the  people  of  each  incoming  State 
had  a  right  to  determine  their  own  institutions;  and  it 
was  also  urged  that  to  keep  the  balance  of  power  between 
the  two  sections,  it  was  necessary  that  slave  States  should 
be  admitted  equally  with  free.  It  was  disclosed  with 
startling  suddenness  that  two  systems  of  labor  and  society 
stood  face  to  face,  with  different  ideals,  different  interests, 
and  in  a  mutual  opposition  to  which  no  limits  could  be 
x^oreseerh  It  was  plain  that  with  the  increase  of  profit 
from  slavery  all  idea  of  its  abolition  had  been  quietly 
dropping  from  the  minds  of  the  great  mass  of  the  Southern 
community.  It  was  equally  plain  that  the  sentiment  against 
slavery  in  the  North  had  increased  greatly  in  distinctness 
and  intensity.  There  was  apparent,  too,  a  divergence  of 
material  interests,  and  a  keen  rivalry  of  political  interests. 
The  South  had  been  losing  ground  in  comparison.  From 
an  equality  in  population,  the  North  had  gained  a  majority 
of  600,000  in  a  total  of  10,000,000.  The  approaching  cen 
sus  of  1820  would  give  the  North  a  preponderance  of 
thirty  in  the  House.  In  wealth,  too,  the  North  had  been  ob 
viously  drawing  ahead.  Only  in  the  Senate  did  the  South 
retain  an  equality  of  power,  and,  to  maintain  at  least  this, 


A 

Conflict  and  Compromise  25 

by  the  accession  of  new  slave  States,  was  an  avowed 
object  of  Southern  politicians. 

The  debate  was  so  hot,  the  underlying  causes  of  opposition 
were  so  obvious,  and  the  avowed  determination  of  the 
contestants  was  so  resolute,  that  the  unity  and  continu- 
ance  of  the  nation  was  unmistakably  threatened. iState 
Legislatures  passed  resolutions  for  one  side  or  the  other, 
according  to  their  geographical  location ;  only  the  Dela 
ware  Legislature  was  superior  to  the  sectional  considera 
tion,  and  voted  unanimously  in  favor  of  holding  Missouri 
for  freedom.  The  alarm  as  to  the  continuance  of  the 
Union  was  general  and  great.  No  one  felt  it  more  keenly 
than  Jefferson,  startled  in  his  scholarly  and  peaceful  re 
tirement  at  Monticello,  as  he  said,  as  by  "  a  fire-bell  in 
the  night."  He  wrote :  "  In  the  gloomiest  movements  of  the 
Revolutionary  war,  I  never  had  an  apprehension  equal 
to  that  I  feel  from  this  source."  It  was  a  grave  omen 
that  Jefferson's  sympathies  were  with  his  section  rather 
than  with  freedom;  he  joined  in  the  opposition  to  the 
exclusion  of  slavery  from  Missouri.  He  had  no  love  for 
slavery,  but  he  was  jealous  for  the  right  of  each  State 
to  choose  its  own  way,  for  good  or  evil;  a  political  theory 
outweighed  in  him  the  sentiment  of  humanity. 

A  compromise  was  proposed.  Let  Missouri  have  sla 
very  if  she  will,  but  for  the  Northwest  let  it  be  "  thus  far 
and  no  farther " ;  let  it  be  fixed  that  there  shall  be  no 
more  slave  States  north  of  the  line  which  marks  Missouri's 
southern  boundary,  the  line  of  36  degrees  30  minutes 
north  latitude.  Present  advantage  to  the  South,  future 
security  to  the  North;  and  meantime  let  Maine'  be  ad 
mitted,  which  keeps  the  balance  equal.  This  was  the 
solution  accepted  by  both  sides  after  a  discussion  lasting 
through  the  Congressional  session  of  1819-20  until  March. 
But  the  smothered  flame  broke  out  again.  Missouri  in 


26  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

1820  adopted  a  constitution,  and  asked  for  admission  accord 
ing  to  promise ;  and  one  clause  in  her  constitution  forbade 
the  entrance  of  free  blacks  into  the  State.  This  was  too 
much  for  the  North,  already  half  disgusted  with  the  conces 
sion  it  had  made,  and  when  Congress  met  for  the  session  of 
1820-21  the  whole  question  was  reopened,  and  the  dispute 
was  hotter  and  more  obstinate  than  ever.  The  issue  was 
wholly  uncertain,  and  disunion  seemed  to  hover  near  and 
dark,  when  Henry  Clay,  who  in  the  first  debate  had  taken 
no  very  important  part,  but  had  supported  the  Southern 
claim,  now  threw  his  whole  power,  which  was  great,  in 
favor  of  conciliation  and  agreement  on  the  original  basis. 
Clay  was  a  politician,  and  ambitious  for  the  Presidency, 
but  he  was  a  patriot  and  a  lover  of  humanity.  As  to  slavery 
he  was  a  waverer,  disliking  it  at  heart  and  sometimes 
speaking  manfully  against  it,  but  at  other  times  respectful 
toward  it  as  an  established  and  mighty  fact,  and  even 
lending  himself  to  its  eulogy.  In  the  first  debate  he  had 
advocated  the  Southern  side,  had  extolled  slavery,  and 
declared  the  black  slaves  of  the  South  to  be  better  off 
than  the  white  slaves  of  the  North.  Now  he  gave  all  his 
persuasive  and  commanding  eloquence,  all  the  influence 
of  his  genial  nature  and  winning  arts,  to  rally  the  lovers 
of  the  Union  to  the  mutual  concessions  by  which  alone 
it  could  be  preserved.  He  justified  the  objection  to  the 
exclusion  of  free  negroes,  he  divested  himself  of  sectional 
partisanship,  and  pleaded  with  equal  skill  and  fervor  for 
the  compromise.  He  did  not  forget  that  he  was  a  Presi 
dential  aspirant,  but  he  was  a  true  lover  of  his  country, 
and  seldom  have  the  traits  of  politician  and  patriot  worked 
together  more  effectively.  Though  the  mass  of  the  North 
ern  members,  strengthened  doubtless  by  the  influence  of 
their  constituents  at  home  during  the  recess,  were  now 
opposed  to  the  whole  compromise,  and  a  few  Southern 


Conflict  and  Compromise  27 

extremists  were  against  it,  yet  the  majority  of  both  House 
and  Senate  were  won  to  its  support,  and  on  the  last  day 
of  February,  1821,  Missouri  was  admitted  as  a  slave  State, 
on  condition  that  she  expunge  her  exclusion  of  free  blacks, 
which  she  promptly  did.  Maine  had  already  been  admitted. 
The  excitement  ended  almost  as  suddenly  as  it  had  begun. 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE   WIDENING   RIFT 

FOR  the  next  twelve  years,  slavery  was  in  the  background 
of  the  national  stage.  But  during  this  period,  various  influ 
ences  were  converging  to  a  common  result,  until  in  1832-3 
the  issue  was  defined  with  new  clearness  and  thenceforth 
grew  as  the  central  feature  in  the  public  life  of  America. 

From  the  time  of  the  Missouri  debate,  the  slavery  interest 
was  consolidated  and  alert,  even  while  other  subjects  seemed 
to  fill  the  public  mind.  To  the  North,  slavery  was  habitually 
a  remote  matter,  but  it  was  perpetually  brought  home  to 
the  business  and  bosoms  of  the  South.  The  whole  indus 
trial  system,  a  social  aristocracy,  and  political  ambition, 
blended  their  forces.  An  instance  of  the  subtle  power  of  the 
institution  was  given  in  a  little-marked  incident  of  Adams's 
generally  creditable  administration.  By  three  men  as  high- 
minded  as  President  Adams,  Secretary  Clay,  and  Minister 
Gallatin,  overtures  were  made  to  England  for  a  treaty  by 
which  the  surrender  of  deserters  from  her  army  and  navy 
should  be  her  compensation  for  surrendering  our  fugitive 
slaves!  The  British  government  would  not  listen  to  the 
proposal. 

The  national  politics  of  this  period,  1820-32,  centred  in  a 
group  of  strong  and  picturesque  personalities, — Clay, 
Adams,  Calhoun,  Jackson,  and  Webster.  John  Quincy 
Adams  was  a  sort  of  exaggeration  of  the  typical  New  Eng- 
lander, — upright,  austere,  highly  educated,  devoted  to  the 
public  service,  ambitious,  yet  not  to  the  sacrifice  of  con 
science,  but  cold,  angular,  repellant.  Says  Carl  Schurz 

28 


The  Widening  Rift  29 

in  his  Henry  Clay — a  book  which  gives  an  admirable 
resume  of  a  half-century  of  politics :  "  He  possessed  in 
the  highest  degree  that  uprightness  which  leans  backward. 
He  had  a  horror  of  demagogy,  and  lest  he  should  render 
himself  guilty  of  anything  akin  to  it,  he  would  but  rarely 
condescend  to  those  innocent  amenities  by  which  the  good 
will  of  others  may  be  conciliated.  His  virtue  was  freezing 
cold  of  touch,  and  forbidding  in  its  look."  When  the  Pres 
idential  election  went  into  the  House  in  1824,  the  influence 
of  Clay — himself  a  defeated  candidate — was  decisively 
thrown  for  Adams  against  Jackson,  and  Clay  served  as 
President  Adams's  Secretary  of  State.  The  two  men  sup 
plemented  each  other  well ;  Clay  less  austerely  virtuous,  but 
far  more  lovable;  his  personal  ideals  less  exacting,  but  his 
sympathies  wider.  The  co-operation  between  them  was 
honorable  to  both  and  serviceable  to  the  country;  but 
partisan  bitterness  stigmatized  it  as  a  corrupt  alliance;  the 
air  was  full  of  suspicion  and  jealousy  toward  the  cultivated 
and  prosperous  class  that  had  hitherto  supplied  the  chiefs 
of  the  government,  and  the  rising  democratic  sentiment 
found  a  most  congenial  hero  in  Andrew  Jackson. 

He  was  a  rough  backwoodsman;  a  fighter  by  nature 
and  a  passable  soldier;  a  staunch  friend  and  a  patriot  at 
heart;  ignorant,  wholly  unversed  in  statesmanship,  arbi 
trary  in  temper,  and  inclined  to  judge  all  subjects  from  a 
personal  standpoint.  He  easily  defeated  Adams  for  the 
Presidency  in  1828.  His  election  marked  the  ascendancy, 
long  to  continue,  of  a  more  ignoble  element  in  the  nation's 
political  life.  His  administration  began  the  employment  of 
the  spoils  system ;  and  it  "  handled  intricate  financial  prob 
lems  as  a  monkey  might  handle  the  works  of  a  watch." 
Jackson  had  small  regard  for  the  rights  of  those  who  got  in 
the  way  of  himself,  his  party,  or  his  country ;  he  had  tram 
pled  recklessly  on  the  Indian;  and  his  triumph  fell  as  a 


30  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

heavy  discouragement  on  the  quiet  but  widespread  move 
ment  to  elevate  the  negro.  He  treated  all  questions  in  a  per 
sonal  way;  and  the  first  great  battle  of  his  administration 
was  to  compel  social  recognition  in  Washington  for  the  wife 
of  one  of  his  cabinet  members  whose  reputation  scandal  had 
breathed  upon,  unjustly  as  Jackson  believed.  In  the  revolt 
against  her  recognition  a  leader  was  the  Vice-President,  John 
C.  Calhoun,  himself  a  man  of  blameless  morals  and  an 
advocate  of  the  highest  social  standards.  He  thereby  lost  at 
once  the  favor  of  Jackson,  which  was  transferred  to  Martin 
Van  Buren,  a  wily  New  York  politician,  quite  ready  to  call 
on  any  lady  or  support  any  policy  that  his  chief  might 
approve.  The  breach  between  Jackson  and  Calhoun  was 
widened  by  the  disclosure  of  an  old  political  secret,  probably 
by  Crawford  of  Georgia,  a  disappointed  Presidential  aspi 
rant.  Jackson's  administration  naturally  fell  more  and  more 
into  the  hands  of  mediocre  men. 

Calhoun  had  already  had  a  long  term  of  distinguished 
public  service ;  he  had  been  one  of  the  group  of  young  men 
who  came  to  the  front  in  urging  on  the  war  of  1812;  he 
had  served  with  success  in  the  cabinet  and  twice  been 
chosen  to  the  Vice-Presidency.  He  was  of  high  personal 
character;  a  keen  logician  and  debater;  a  leader  who  im 
pressed  himself  by  the  strength  of  his  character  and  depth 
of  his  convictions.  Adams  wrote  of  him  in  1821 :  "  He 
is  above  all  sectional  and  factious  prejudices,  more  than 
any  other  statesman  of  this  Union  with  whom  I  have  ever 
acted."  He  was  ambitious  of  the  Presidency,  an  ambition 
which  saw  itself  defeated  when  Van  Buren  became  the 
heir-apparent  of  the  Jackson  dynasty.  A  true  lover  of 
his  country,  his  predominant  devotion  came  to  be  given 
to  his  own  section,  and  that  temper  fell  in  with  events  to 
make  him  the  foremost  champion  of  the  South. 

The  prominence  of  the  personal  element  in  public  affairs 


The  Widening  Rift  31 

was  connected  with  the  absence  of  any  clear  and  deep 
division  upon  large  questions  of  policy.  There  emerged 
a  group  of  ideas  constituting  what  was  called  the  "  Ameri 
can  system,"  of  which  Clay  was  the  foremost  advocate, 
and  which  became  the  basis  of  the  Whig  party,  as  it  was 
organized  in  the  early  '30*3.  It's  general  principle  was 
the  free  use  of  the  Federal  government's  resources  for  the 
industrial  and  commercial  betterment  of  the  people;  and 
its  prominent  applications  were  a  national  bank,  a  system 
of  national  highroads  and  waterways,  and  a  liberal  use 
of  the  protective  principle  in  tariff  laws.  "  Protection  to 
American  industry  "  was  the  great  cry  by  which  Clay  now 
rallied  his  followers.  The  special  direction  of  this  protec 
tion  was  in  favor  of  American  manufacturers.  By  very 
high  taxes  levied  on  imported  goods,  the  price  of  those 
was  necessarily  raised  to  the  consumer,  and  the  American 
maker  of  clothes,  cutlery,  and  so  on,  was  enabled  to  raise 
his  own  prices  correspondingly.  Naturally,  this  result  was 
most  gratifying  to  the  manufacturer  and  his  dependents 
and  allies.  No  less  naturally,  it  was  highly  objectionable 
to  the  consumer.  But  to  the  consumer  it  was  pointed  out 
that  by  thus  fostering  the  "  infant  industries "  of  his 
country  they  would  be  strengthened  to  the  point  where 
they  could  and  would  supply  him  with  his  goods  far  more 
cheaply  than  would  otherwise  be  possible.  But  this  pleas 
ing  promise,  held  out  now  for  some  seventy-five  years,  some 
how  failed  to  quite  satisfy  the  consumer;  and  where  whole 
classes  and  sections  were  consumers  only,  from  the  tariff 
standpoint,  and  saw  themselves  mulcted  for  the  benefit 
of  classes  and  sections  already  richer  than  they,  they 
grumbled  loudly,  and  did  not  always  stop  with  grumbling. 
So  when  in  1828  a  tariff  was  enacted  imposing  very  high 
duties  on  most  manufactured  articles,  and  which  delighted 
the  hearts  of  New  England  and  Middle  States  manufac- 


32  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

turers,  it  was  so  obnoxious  to  others  that  the  name  was 
fastened  to  it  of  "  the  tariff  of  abominations,"  and  history 
has  never  changed  that  name. 

There  were  hopes  of  relief  under  Jackson,  but  in  the 
confusion  of  party  issues,  and  with  the  tariff  supported 
by  the  consolidated  strength  of  the  manufacturers — a  con 
solidation  powerful  enough  to  make  Webster  its  spokes 
man  in  Congress;  a  consolidation  as  definite  and  resolute 
as  that  of  the  slave-holders,  and  destined  to  be  far  longer- 
lived, — no  change  in  legislation  came  till  1832,  and  then 
the  change  was  immaterial ;  the  "  tariff  of  abominations  " 
was  substantially  re-enacted.  The  South  had  been  chafing 
bitterly,  and  now  South  Carolina  broke  into  open  revolt. 
The  whole  South  felt  itself  aggrieved  by  the  tariff.  Its 
industrial  system  was  not  suited  to  develop  manufactures; 
it  lacked  the  material  for  skilled  labor ;  it  lacked  the  artisan 
class  who  create  a  demand.  Its  staple  industry  was  agri 
culture,  the  growth  of  tobacco,  rice,  sugar,  and  above 
all,  cotton,  and  it  went  to  the  North  and  to  Europe  for 
its  manufactured  goods.  A  system  of  taxation  which 
doubled  the  price  of  its  imports  without  helping  its  ex 
ports,  was  resented  as  unjust,  and  as  hostile  to  the  spirit 
if  not  the  letter  of  the  Constitution. 

South  Carolina  took  the  lead,  and  indeed  stood  alone, 
in  applying  a  remedy  more  drastic  than  the  disease — nulli 
fication.  Calhoun's  logic  welded  and  sharpened  the  weapon 
which  had  behind  it  almost  the  entire  weight  of  the 
State.  The  precise  relation  of  the  States  to  the  Union, 
left  indeterminate  in  the  Constitution,  and  debated  in  every 
crisis  which  had  strained  the  bonds,  was  now  asserted 
by  Calhoun  to  involve  the  right  of  any  State  to  declare 
null  and  void  any  action  of  the  Federal  Congress  which 
impaired  its  rights.  South  Carolina  now  put  the  theory 
into  action.  She  held  near  the  close  of  1832  a  convention, 


The  Widening  Rift  33 

which  declared  the  tariff  law  unconstitutional  and  void; 
asserted  that  the  State  would  no  longer  pay  duties  under 
it,  and  if  coercion  was  attempted  would  secede  outright. 

Congress  discussed  the  matter;  and  in  the  most  mem-  \ 
orable  and  classic  of  Senate  debates,  Hayne  of  South 
Carolina  vindicated  the  State's  position  with  logic,  passion, 
and  eloquence;  while  Webster  replied  with  an  equal  logic, 
a  broader  and  higher  ideal  of  nationality,  a  vindication 
of  New  England  which  thrilled  all  hearts,  and  a  patriotism 
which  gave  the  keynote  to  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the 
Union.  Hitherto,  Massachusetts  and  South  Carolina 
had  each  stood  stiffly  at  times  for  her  own  way,  even  at 
peril  of  the  national  bond ;  but  in  that  hour  the  individu 
ality  of  iouth  Carolina  was  merged  in  the  slave-holding 
States,  and  that  of  Massachusetts  in  a  Union,  one  and  in 
divisible. 

The  challenge  of  South  Carolina  was  promptly  answered 
by  Jackson,  just  re-elected  President.  He  issued  a  procla 
mation,  proclaiming  nullification  as  political  heresy,  and 
threatening  to  treat  its  practical  exercise  as  treason.  But 
the  situation  was  not  destined  to  settlement  by  the  high 
hand.  Webster  favored  such  a  settlement;  he  was  for  no 
concession.  As  well  make  the  issue  now  as  ever,  he  said. 
The  President's  friends  introduced  a  bill  giving  him  author 
ity,  if  nullification  were  insisted  on,  to  close  ports  of  entry, 
collect  duties  by  military  force,  and  the  like ;  "  the  force 
bill,"  it  was  called.  But  the  "  tariff  of  abominations " 
was  not  the  most  satisfactory  or  promising  ground  on 
which  to  assert  the  national  sovereignty.  And  Jackson 
was  hardly  a  desirable  man  to  intrust  with  indefinite  mili 
tary  power.  So  urged  the  timid  or  the  moderate,  and 
Clay  was  again  the  spokesman  of  compromise.  He  brought 
in  a  tariff  bill,  by  which  all  duties  above  20  per  cent,  were 
to  be  gradually  reduced  until  in  10  years  they  reached  that 


34  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

figure,  at  which  they  were  to  remain.  This  bill  and  the 
force  bill  were  passed  together,  and  signed  the  same  day. 
Confronted  by  the  government  with  the  sword  in  one  hand 
and  the  olive  branch  in  the  other,  South  Carolina  re 
tracted — it  was  not  a  capitulation — and  repealed  the  ordi 
nance.  Nullification  as  a  theory  passed  out  of  sight.  But 
the  willingness  of  the  extreme  South  to  push  to  all  lengths 
its  resistance  to  a  hostile  policy  remained,  and  was  felt 
in  all  that  followed. 

It  was  a  distinct  tradition  among  Calhoun's  followers 
after  his  death — and  they  followed  him  till  Appomattox — 
that  he  privately  gave  as  a  reason  for  making  the  first 
battle  on  the  tariff  question  rather  than  on  slavery,  that 
on  the  first  the  world's  sympathies  would  be  with  them, 
and  on  slavery  against  them.  The  same  tradition  ascribed 
to  Calhoun  the  prediction  that  the  Northern  influence  would 
become  predominant  in  the  Union  about  1860.  Whether 
or  not  Calhoun  said  these  things,  the  tariff  issue  certainly 
was  brought  on  by  the  North ;  and  the  "  compromise " 
on  it  was  a  substantial  victory  gained  by  South  Carolina 
for  the  South.  The  final  verdict  of  history  may  be 
that  it  was  a  just  victory,  won  by  unjust  means.  Calhoun 
now  stood  forth  the  recognized  leader  of  his  section,  while 
it  soon  became  apparent  that  of  that  section  slavery  was 
the  special  bond,  and  was  to  be  its  avowed  creed. 

Almost  unobserved  for  a  time  amid  these  exciting  events, 
the  debate  over  slavery  had  been  going  on,  transferred 
mainly  from  the  political  field  to  the  minds  and  con 
sciences  of  individuals.  Once  in  State  politics  it  came  to  an 
issue.  Illinois,  a  free  State  without  question  at  its  ad 
mission  in  1818,  had  a  majority  of  its  early  immigrants 
from  the  South,  and  a  determined  effort  was  made  to 
introduce  slavery  by  law.  It  met  a  still  more  vigorous  re 
sistance,  in  which  the  Methodist  and  Baptist  clergy,  mainly 


The  Widening  Rift  35 

Southern  men,  took  a  leading  part.  The  opposition  was 
led  by  a  Southerner,  Gov.  Edward  Coles,  one  of  the  for 
gotten  heroes.  Inheriting  in  Virginia  some  hundreds  of 
slaves,  and  hindered  by  the  State  laws  from  emancipating 
them,  he  took  them  all  to  Illinois,  gave  them  their  free 
dom,  supplied  them  with  land,  cabins,  stock,  and  tools, 
and  watched  and  befriended  them  till  they  became  self- 
supporting.  In  each  deed  of  emancipation  he  gave  his 
testimony :  "  Whereas,  I  do  not  believe  a  man  can  have 
a  right  of  property  in  his  fellow  men  ...  I  do  there 
fore  .  .  .  restore  to  the  said that  inalienable  liberty 

of  which  they  have  been  deprived."  He  led  the  fight 
against  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  Illinois  to  a  de 
cisive  victory  in  1824.  A  few  more  such  men  throughout 
the  South,  and  history  would  have  been  different. 

A  quiet  advocacy  of  anti-slavery  went  on  throughout 
the  country,  except  the  extreme  South.  It  was  in  sympathy 
with  the  general  revival  of  religious  activity  which  began 
about  1815 — a  form  of  the  new  national  life,  disentangled 
from  European  complications,  and  free  for  home  conquests 
and  widening  achievements.  Three  great  evils  aroused 
the  spirit  of  reform — intemperance,  slavery,  and  war.  The 
general  assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  representing 
the  whole  country,  in  1818,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  con 
demned  slavery  as  "  a  gross  violation  of  the  most  sacred 
and  precious  rights  of  human  nature,  and  utterly  incon 
sistent  with  the  law  of  God,  which  requires  us  to  love  our 
neighbor  as  ourselves."  In  1824-7  the  Legislatures  of 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  New  Jersey  passed  resolutions 
calling  on  Congress  to  provide  for  compensated  emanci 
pation,  and  expressing  willingness  that  their  States  should 
pay  their  share  of  the  burden.  This  last  sentiment  was  a 
rare  one;  the  self-sacrifice  it  demanded  from  the  non- 
slave-holding  States  was  very  little  in  evidence  during 


36  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  long  contest  that  followed;  men  would  speak  and  vote 
for  freedom;  when  angry  enough  they  would  fight — to 
defeat  the  master  and  incidentally  to  free  the  slave — but 
to  pay,  in  cold  blood,  and  in  heavy  measure,  for  the  ran 
som  of  the  slaves,  was  a  different  matter;  and  few  were 
they  who,  like  Lincoln,  favored  that  way  out.  The  action  of 
those  three  Legislatures  marked  the  height  of  the  early  anti- 
slavery  tide,  and  prompted  a  hope  which  was  never  fulfilled. 

In  the  decade  1820-30,  more  than  100  anti-slavery 
societies  were  established  in  slave  States  (see  James  G. 
Birney  and  His  Times,  an  admirable  exposition  of  the 
conservative  anti-slavery  movement).  The  Manumission 
Society  of  North  Carolina  in  1825  took  a  kind  of  census 
of  the  State,  and  concluded  that  of  its  people  60  in  100 
favored  emancipation  in  some  form.  In  the  same  year  a 
pamphlet  published  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  on  "  The  Critical 
Situation  and  Future  Prospects  of  the  Slave-Holding 
States,"  bitterly  declared  that  the  whole  book  and  newspaper 
press  of  the  North  and  East  teemed  with  articles  on  slavery. 
In  Maryland,  an  anti-slavery  party  in  1826  elected  two 
members  to  the  House  of  Delegates;  but  this  movement 
disappeared  on  the  election  of  Jackson  two  years  later.  In 
Alabama,  Birney,  a  man  of  a  fine  type,  and  growing 
toward  leadership,  secured  in  1827  the  passage  of  a  law 
forbidding  the  importation  of  slaves  as  merchandise;  but 
this  was  repealed  two  years  later.  So  the  wave  flowed 
and  ebbed,  but  on  the  whole  it  seemed  to  advance. 

Among  local  societies  in  the  Northern  States,  one  may 
be  instanced  in  New  Haven,  Ct,  in  which,  in  1825,  five 
young  men  associated  themselves;  among  them  were  Ed 
ward  Beecher,  Leonard  Bacon,  and  Theodore  D.  Woolsey. 
They  were  highly  practical ;  their  immediate  aims  were : 
First  to  elevate  the  black  population  of  New  Haven;  sec 
ondly,  to  influence  public  sentiment  in  the  city  and  State; 


The  Widening  Rift  37 

and  thirdly,  to  influence  the  theological  students  in  Yale 
college.  So  faithful  were  their  labors  in  their  own  city 
for  its  black  population — described  as  in  most  wretched 
condition,  which  seems  to  have  been  the  case  with  most  of 
the  blacks  at  the  North  in  this  period — that  six  years  later 
Garrison  pronounced  them  more  comfortable  and  less 
injured  by  prejudice  than  in  any  other  place  in  the  Union. 
The  young  men  of  the  New  Haven  and  Andover  semi 
naries  united  in  a  project  of  a  college  for  the  blacks; 
strong  support  was  obtained ;  but  the  fierce  wave  of  re 
action  following  Nat  Turner's  revolt  swept  it  away.  Lane 
seminary  at  Cincinnati,  a  Presbyterian  stronghold,  became 
a  center  of  enthusiastic  anti-slavery  effort,  with  the  bril 
liant  young  Theodore  D.  Weld  as  its  foremost  apostle; 
he  was  welcomed  and  heard  in  the  border  slave  States. 
The  authorities  of  the  college,  alarmed  by  the  audacity 
of  their  pupils,  tried  to  restrain  the  movement,  and  the 
result  was  a  great  secession  of  students. 

The  seceders  proposed  to  form  a  theological  department 
at  Oberlin  College  (established  two  years  before)  if  they 
could  have  Charles  G.  Finney,  the  famous  revivalist,  as 
their  teacher.  But  Finney  declined  to  take  the  place  until 
the  conservative  trustees  consented  to  admit  colored  youths 
to  the  College;  and  thus  Oberlin  became  an  anti-slavery 
stronghold. 

As  the  anti-slavery  movement  developed,  the  call  for 
immediate  liberation  became  more  insistent  and  imperative. 
The  colonization  method  lost  credit.  Slavery  was  coming  to 
be  regarded  by  its  opponents  not  merely  as  a  social  evil  to 
be  eradicated,  but  as  a  personal  sin  of  the  slave-holder,  to 
be  renounced  as  promptly  as  any  other  sin.  John  Wes- 
leys  words  were  a  keynote :  "  Instantly,  at  any  price,  were 
it  the  half  of  your  goods,  deliver  thyself  from  blood-guilti 
ness  !  "  A  Virginia  minister,  Rev.  George  Bourne,  pub- 


38  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

lished  in  1816  Slavery  and  the  Book  Irreconcilable,  in 
which  he  said :  "  The  system  is  so  entirely  corrupt  that  it 
admits  of  no  cure  but  by  a  total  and  immediate  abolition." 
Two  other  Southern  ministers,  James  Duncan  and  John 
Rankin,  wrote  to  the  same  effect.  In  England,  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  in  the  West  India  colonies  was  being  per 
sistently  urged ;  the  impulse  was  a  part  of  the  philanthropic 
movement  that  went  along  with  the  evangelical  revival, 
and  Wilberforce  was  its  leader.  These  English  abolitionists 
were  coming  to  "  immediatism "  from  1824,  and  their 
influence  told  in  America. 

Among  the  most  unselfish  and  devoted  laborers  for  the 
slave  was  Benjamin  Lundy.  He  was  a  Quaker  by  birth 
and  training;  he  overtaxed  his  strength  and  permanently 
impaired  his  hearing  by  prematurely  trying  to  do  a  man's 
work  on  his  father's  farm  in  New  Jersey,  and  settled  at 
the  saddler's  trade  in  Wheeling,  Va.,  in  1808.  With  the 
outlawing  of  the  African  slave  trade,  there  was  beginning 
the  sale  of  slaves  from  Virginia  to  the  Southern  cotton- 
fields,  and  the  sight  of  the  sorrowful  exiles  moved  Lundy's 
heart  to  a  lifelong  devotion  of  himself  to  pleading  the  cause 
of  the  slave.  Infirm,  deaf,  unimpressive  in  speech  and 
bearing,  trudging  on  long  journeys,  and  accepting  a 
decent  poverty,  he  gave  all  the  resources  of  a  strong  and 
sweet  nature  to  the  service  of  the  friendless  and  unhappy. 
He  supported  himself  by  his  trade,  while  he  lectured  and 
wrote.  He  established  in  1821  a  weekly  Genius  of  Uni 
versal  Emancipation,  at  Mt.  Pleasant,  O.,  starting  with 
out  a  dollar  of  capital  and  only  six  subscribers ;  and  at  first 
walking  twenty  miles  every  week  to  the  printing  press,  and 
returning  with  his  edition  on  his  back.  Four  years  later 
he  moved  his  paper  to  Baltimore.  Anti-slavery  agitation 
was  still  tolerated  in  the  border  States,  though  once  Lundy 
was  attacked  by  a  bully  who  almost-  murdered  him.  When 


The  Widening  Rift  39 

the  impending  election  of  Jackson  in  1828  came  as  a  chill 
to  the  anti-slavery  cause,  the  waning  fortunes  of  his  paper 
sent  Lundy  to  Boston  to  seek  aid.  There  he  found  sympa 
thy  in  a  number  of  the  clergy,  though  fear  of  arousing  the 
hostility  of  the  South  kept  them  cautious.  Dr.  Channing 
wrote  to  Daniel  Webster,  expressing  the  fullest  sympathy 
with  Lundy's  devotion  to  freedom,  but  also  the  gravest 
apprehension  that  unless  the  slaveholders  were  approached 
in  a  spirit  of  friendliness  rather  than  denunciation,  there 
would  result  a  sectional  strife  fraught  with  the  greatest 
danger.  We  should  say  to  the  South,  wrote  Channing, 
"  Slavery  is  your  calamity  and  not  your  crime  " ;  and  the 
whole  nation  should  assume  the  burden  of  emancipation, 
meeting  the  expense  by  the  revenue  from  the  sale  of  public 
lands.  In  this  brief  letter  of  Channing's  there  is  more  of 
true  statesmanship  than  in  all  the  utterances  of  the  poli 
ticians  of  his  day. 

But  Lundy  (himself  not  given  to  denunciation)  made  one 
convert  of  a  very  different  temper  from  Channing's  or  his 
own — William  Lloyd  Garrison,  a  young  man  educated  in  a 
printing-office,  fearless,  enthusiastic,  and  energetic  in  the 
highest  degree.  Quickly  won  to  the  emancipation  idea,  and 
passing  soon  to  full  belief  in  immediate  and  uncom- 
pensated  liberation,  he  allied  himself  with  Lundy  as  the 
active  editor  of  the  Genius,  while  the  older  man  devoted 
himself  to  traveling  and  lecturing.  The  Genius  at  once 
became  militant  and  aggressive.  The  incidents  which  con 
stantly  fell  under  Garrison's  eye — slave  auctions  and  whip 
pings — fanned  the  fire  within  him.  One  day,  for  example, 
a  slave  came  into  the  office,  told  his  story,  and  showed 
the  proofs.  His  master  had  lately  died,  leaving  him  his 
freedom,  which  was  to  be  legally  effected  in  a  few  weeks; 
but  in  the  meantime  the  overseer  under  whom  he  worked, 
displeased  at  lu's  way  of  loading  a  wagon,  flogged  him  with 


40  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

a  cowhide  so  severely  that  his  back  showed  twenty-seven 
terrible  gashes.  Garrison  appealed  to  the  master's  heirs  for 
redress,  but  was  repelled  with  contumely.  Presently  he 
assailed  an  old  fellow-townsman  in  Newburyport,  Mass.,  be 
cause  a  ship  he  owned  had  been  employed  to  transport  a 
cargo  of  slaves  from  Baltimore  to  New  Orleans.  The  de 
nunciation  was  unmeasured;  the  ship-owner  brought  suit, 
and  as  some  points  in  the  article  were  not  sustained  by  the 
evidence,  Garrison  was  fined  $100.  Unable  to  pay  he  went 
to  jail,  bearing  his  captivity  with  courage  and  high  cheer,  till 
Arthur  Tappan,  a  New  York  merchant  and  a  leader  in  the 
anti-slavery  cause,  paid  his  fine  and  released  him.  The 
Genius  being  ruined,  Garrison  transferred  his  field  of  labor 
to  Boston,  where,  at  the  beginning  of  1831,  he  started  the 
weekly  Liberator.  He  and  his  partner,  Isaac  Knapp,  did  all 
the  work  of  every  kind,  living  principally  on  bread  and 
water,  and  with  only  six  hours  a  week,  and  those  at  mid 
night,  for  Garrison  to  write  his  articles.  The  paper's  motto 
was :  "  Our  country  is  the  world,  our  countrymen  are  all 
mankind."  In  his  salutatory  Garrison  wrote :  "  I  will  be 
as  harsh  as  truth  and  as  uncompromising  as  justice.  On 
this  subject  I  do  not  wish  to  think  or  speak  or  write  with 
moderation.  No!  No!  Tell  a  man  whose  house  is  on 
fire  to  give  a  moderate  alarm ;  tell  him  to  moderately  rescue 
his  wife  from  the  hands  of  the  ravisher;  tell  the  mother  to 
gradually  extricate  her  babe  from  the  fire  into  which  it 
has  fallen, — but  urge  me  not  to  use  moderation  in  a  cause 
like  the  present.  I  am  in  earnest — I  will  not  equivocate — 
I  will  not  excuse — I  will  not  retract  a  single  inch — and  I 
will  be  heard  !  " 

While  Garrison's  language  was  constantly  such  as  to 
arouse  passion  to  the  boiling  point,  he  was  always  in  theory 
a  supporter  of  peace,  opposed  to  war  under  any  conditions, 
and  even  to  resistance  of  force  by  force.  But  in  1829  there 


The  Widening  Rift  41 

appeared  a  pamphlet  of  a  different  tenor;  an  Appeal,  by 
Walker,  a  Boston  negro,  addressed  directly  to  the  slaves. 
It  was  a  fiery  recital  of  their  wrongs  and  an  incitement  to 
forcible  redress.  Its  appearance  in  the  South  caused  great 
excitement.  The  Governors  of  Virginia  and  Georgia  sent 
special  messages  to  their  Legislatures  about  it.  Garrison 
wrote  of  it,  in  the  Genius :  "  It  breathes  the  most  impas 
sioned  and  determined  spirit.  We  deprecate  its  publication, 
though  we  cannot  but  wonder  at  the  bravery  and  intelligence 
of  its  author."  Garrison's  biographers — his  sons — speak 
of  Walker  as  "  a  sort  of  John  the  Baptist  to  the  new  anti- 
slavery  dispensation."  It  was  well  for  the  Baptist  that  his 
head  was  out  of  Herod's  reach.  The  Georgia  Legislature 
passed  in  a  single  day  a  bill  forbidding  the  entry  of  free 
negroes  into  the  State,  and  making  "  the  circulation  of 
pamphlets  of  evil  tendency  among  our  domestics  "  a  capital 
offense. 

Large  as  these  events  loom  in  the  retrospect,  they  were 
comparatively  little  noticed  in  their  time.  Virginia  held  in 
1830  a  convention  for  the  revision  of  her  constitution; 
among  its  members  were  Madison,  Monroe,  and  Randolph ; 
and  emancipation  was  not  even  mentioned.  Jefferson  was 
dead,  and  the  spirit  of  Jefferson  seemed  dead.  Then  the  un 
expected  happened.  There  was  a  negro  preacher,  a  slave 
named  Nat  Turner.  He  was  a  man  of  slight  figure,  reputed 
among  his  people  a  sort  of  prophet,  addicted  to  visions  and 
rhapsodies.  He  planned  in  1831  an  uprising  of  the  slaves. 
He  circulated  among  them  a  document  written  in  blood, 
with  cabalistic  figures,  and  pictures  of  the  sun  and  a 
crucifix.  One  night  he  and  a  group  of  companions 
set  out  on  their  revolt.  Others  joined  them  voluntarily  or 
by  impressment  till  they  numbered  forty.  They  began  by 
killing  Turner's  master  and  his  family;  then  they  killed  a 
lady  and  her  ten  children ;  they  attacked  a  girls'  boarding- 


42  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

school  and  killed  all  the  inmates.  Houses  stood  open  and 
unguarded,  and  most  of  the  white  men  were  away  at  a 
camp-meeting.  From  Sunday  night  till  Monday  noon  the 
band  went  on  its  way  unchecked,  and  killed  sixty  persons. 
Then  the  neighborhood  rallied  and  overcame  them ;  slew 
several  on  the  spot;  but  held  the  rest  for  trial,  which  was 
held  regularly  and  fairly,  and  thirteen  were  executed.  The 
origin  of  the  outbreak  remained  mysterious.  Turner  said 
on  his  trial  that  he  had  not  been  unkindly  treated,  and  there 
was  no  evidence  of  provocation  by  special  abuse.  There 
was  no  trace  of  any  instigation  from  the  North  in  any  form. 
It  seemed  not  a  stroke  for  freedom  by  men  worthy  to  be 
free ;  not  even  a  desperate  revolt  against  intolerable  wrong ; 
but  more  like  an  outbreak  of  savagery,  the  uprising  of  the 
brute  in  man,  thirsty  for  blood.  The  fear  at  first  prevailed 
that  there  existed  a  widespread  conspiracy,  and  various 
legislation  for  protection  and  repression  was  enacted  or 
discussed. 

But  the  larger  mind  of  Virginia  was  moved  toward  a 
radical  treatment  of  the  disease  itself,  instead  of  its  symp 
toms.  In  the  next  session  of  the  Legislature,  1831-2,  pro 
posals  for  a  general  emancipation  were  brought  forward, 
and  the  whole  subject  was  canvassed  in  a  long  and  earnest 
debate.  For  slavery  on  its  merits  hardly  a  word  of  defense 
was  spoken.  The  moral  condemnation  was  not  frequent  or 
strong,  but  the  economic  mischief  was  conceded  by  almost 
all.  It  was  recognized  that  labor  was  debased;  manu 
factures  and  immigration  were  discouraged ;  the  yeomanry 
were  leaving  the  State.  One  bold  speaker  declared  that  the 
masters  were  not  entitled  to  compensation,  since  property 
condemned  by  the  State  as  a  nuisance  brings  no  award  of 
damages  to  the  owner.  But  the  general  agreement  was  that 
emancipation  should  be  compensated  and  gradual,  and  that 
the  blacks  must  be  removed  from  the  State.  One  plan  was 


The  Widening  Rift  43 

that  they  should  be  deported  in  a  body  to  Africa;  another, 
that  the  increase — about  6000  a  year — should  be  so  de 
ported;  while  Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph  urged  a  plan 
which  recalled  that  framed  by  his  uncle,  Thomas  Jefferson, 
half  a  century  before.  He  proposed  that  the  owner  should 
maintain  the  slave-child  till  the  age  of  eighteen  or  twenty- 
one,  his  labor  for  the  last  six  or  eight  years  being  regarded 
as  compensation  for  the  expense  of  infancy;  and  that  the 
slave  should  then  be  hired  out  till  he  had  earned  his  passage 
to  Africa.  But,  whatever  the  method,  let  decisive  action 
be  taken,  and  taken  now!  The  Legislature,  it  is  said,  was 
largely  made  up  of  young  and  inexperienced  men.  Would 
not  the  courage  and  hopefulness  of  Virginia  youth  essay  this 
great  deliverance?  Older  voices  bade  them  to  the  task.  Said 
the  Richmond  Enquirer  (edited  by  the  elder  Ritchie), 
January  7,  1832 :  "  Means,  sure  but  gradual,  systematic 
but  discreet,  ought  to  be  adopted  for  reducing  the  mass  of 
evil  which  is  pressing  upon  the  South,  and  will  still  more 
press  upon  her  the  longer  it  is  put  off.  We  say,  now,  in 
the  utmost  sincerity  of  our  hearts,  that  our  wisest  men  can 
not  give  too  much  of  their  attention  to  this  subject,  nor  can 
they  give  it  too  soon."  It  was  one  of  the  decisive  hours  of 
history : 

Once  to  every  man  and  nation  comes  the  moment  to  decide, 
In  the  strife  of  truth  with  falsehood,  for  the  good  or  evil  side. 

But  the  task  was  too  great,  or  the  life-long  habit  of  the 
slave-owner  had  been  too  enervating.  The  apparent 
expense,  the  collision  of  different  plans,  the  difficulty  in 
revolutionizing  the  whole  industrial  system,  the  hold  of  an 
aristocracy  affording  to  its  upper  class  a  fascinating  leisure 
and  luxury — these,  and  the  absence  of  any  high  moral 
inspiration  in  the  movement,  brought  it  to  naught.  Instead 
of  decreeing  emancipation,  the  Legislature  fell  back  on 


44  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  policy  of  stricter  repression.  It  enacted  that  the  advo 
cacy  of  rebellion  by  writing  or  printing  should  be  a  pen 
itentiary  offense,  and  to  express  the  opinion  that  masters 
had  no  rights  to  their  slaves  was  made  punishable  by  a  fine 
of  $500  and  one  year  in  jail.  To  advise  conspiracy  was 
treason  and  its  punishment  death.  It  had  been  enacted  a 
year  before  that  no  white  man  be  allowed  to  assemble  slaves 
to  instruct  them  in  reading  and  writing;  and  to  this  it  was 
now  added  that  neither  slaves  nor  free  negroes  be  allowed 
to  preach. 

And  so  Virginia  abdicated  her  old-time  leadership  in  the 
cause  of  human  rights,  and  the  primacy  of  the  South  passed 
to  South  Carolina  and  to  Calhoun,  the  champion  of 
slavery. 

In  the  meantime  the  organization  of  the  radical  anti- 
slavery  force  went  on  at  the  North.  In  1832  Garrison, 
Oliver  Johnson  and  ten  others  constituted  themselves  the 
New  England  Anti-slavery  Society.  Almost  its  first  attack 
was  directed  against  the  Colonization  Society,  Garrison 
being  always  as  fierce  against  half-way  friends  as  against 
pronounced  foes.  In  1833  a  little  group  of  more  moderate 
but  resolute  men  organized  a  local  association  in  New  York 
city,  and  under  their  call  the  American  Anti-slavery  Society 
held  its  first  meeting  in  Philadelphia,  in  December.  Among 
the  New  York  leaders  were  Arthur  and  Lewis  Tappan, 
merchants  of  high  standing  and  men  of  well-balanced  and 
admirable  character;  with  them  were  associated  Joshua 
Leavitt  and  Elizur  Wright.  Among  the  Massachusetts 
recruits  was  Whittier.  The  sixty-four  members  were  largely 
made  up  of  merchants,  preachers,  and  theological  students. 
Almost  all  were  church  members ;  twenty-one  Presbyterians 
or  Congregationalists,  nineteen  Quakers,  and  one  Unitarian, 
— Samuel  J.  May.  There  was  a  noticeable  absence  of  men 
versed  in  public  affairs.  The  constitution  was  carefully 


The  Widening  Rift  45       y 

drawn  to  safeguard  the  society  against  the  imputation  of 
unconstitutional  or  anarchic  tendencies.  It  declared  that 
the  right  to  legislate  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  existed  only 
in  the  Legislature  of  each  State;  that  the  society  would 
appeal  to  Congress  to  prohibit  the  interstate  slave  trade,  to 
abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the  terri 
tories,  and  to  admit  no  more  slave  States;  and  that  the 
society  would  not  countenance  the  insurrection  of  slaves. 
Garrison,  who  had  been  visiting  the  Abolitionists  in  Eng 
land,  was  not  among  the  signers  of  the  call  to  the  convention, 
and  the  constitution  was  hardly  in  the  line  of  his  views; 
but  he  wrote  a  declaration  of  principles  which  after  some 
debate  was  adopted.  It  was  impassioned  and  unsparing; 
pictured  the  woes  of  the  slaves  and  the  essential  wickedness 
of  the  system ;  denounced  compensation  and  colonization ; 
declared  that  "  all  laws  admitting  the  right  of  slavery  are 
before  God  utterly  null  and  void  "  and  "  ought  instantly  to 
be  abrogated  " ;  and  called  for  a  universal  and  unresting 
agitation. 


CHAPTER  V 

CALHOUN   AND   GARRISON 

THUS,  with  the  beginning  of  the  second  third  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  the  issue  as  to  American  slavery  was 
distinctly  drawn,  and  the  leading  parties  to  it  had  taken 
their  positions.  Let  us  try  to  understand  the  motive  and 
spirit  of  each. 

In  the  new  phase  of  affairs,  the  chief  feature  was  the 
changed  attitude  of  the  South.  In  the  sentiment  of  its 
leading  and  representative  men,  there  had  been  three  stages : 
first,  "  slavery  is  an  evil,  and  we  will  soon  get  rid  of  it " ; 
next,  "  slavery  is  an  evil,  but  we  do  not  know  how  to  get 
rid  of  it " ;  now  it  became  "  slavery  is  good  and  right,  and 
we  will  maintain  it."  To  this  ground  the  South  came  with 
surprising  suddenness  in  the  years  immediately  following 
1833.  What  caused  the  change?  The  favorite  Southern 
explanation  has  been  that  the  violence  of  the  Abolitionists 
exasperated  the  South,  checked  its  drift  toward  emanci 
pation,  and  provoked  it  in  self-defense  to  justify  and  extend 
its  system.  This  may  be  effective  as  a  criticism  of  the 
extreme  Abolitionists,  but  as  regards  the  South  it  is  rather 
a  confession  than  a  defense.  On  a  subject  involving  its 
whole  prosperity,  its  essential  character,  its  relation  to  the 
world's  civilization,  did  it  reverse  its  course  at  the  bitter 
words  of  a  few  critics  ?  If  that  were  true,  it  would  bespeak 
passionate  irritability,  an  incapacity  for  the  healthy  give- 
and-take  of  practical  life,  in  keeping  with  the  worst  that 
could  be  said  of  the  effect  of  slavery  on  the  master.  In 
truth  the  violence  of  Garrison  and  his  few  followers  was 

46 


Calhoun  and  Garrison  47 

but  a  minor  element  in  the  case.  Slavery  had  become 
immensely  profitable;  it  was  the  corner-stone  of  a  social 
fabric  in  which  the  upper  class  had  an  extremely  comfort 
able  place ;  it  was  involved  with  the  whole  social  and  polit 
ical  life  of  the  section.  It  was  too  important  to  be  dealt 
with  half-heartedly:  it  must  be  accepted,  justified,  believed 
in, — or  it  must  be  abandoned.  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke 
had  said  of  slavery :  "  We  are  holding  a  wolf  by  the  ears ; 
it  is  perilous  alike  to  hold  on  or  to  let  go."  But  one  or  the 
other  must  be  done,  and  the  South  elected  to  keep  on  holding 
the  wolf. 

The  better  to  understand  the  developments  of  the  fol 
lowing  years,  it  will  be  well  to  consider  a  group  of  repre 
sentative  men, — Calhoun,  Garrison,  Birney,  Channing,  and 
Webster. 

Calhoun  had  many  of  the  elements  of  high  statesman 
ship — clear  views,  strong  convictions,  forcible  speech.  He 
was  ambitious,  but  in  no  ignoble  fashion;  he  often  served 
his  country  well,  as  in  his  efficient  administration  of  the 
war  department  under  Munroe,  his  protest  against  the 
spoils  system  and  the  personal  government  of  Jackson,  and 
his  influence  in  averting  war  with  England  over  the  Oregon 
boundary  in  1845-46.  After  the  Presidency  was  clearly  out 
of  his  reach — from  1832 — he  was  growingly  identified  with 
and  devoted  to  the  interests  of  his  own  section,  yet  always 
with  a  patriotic  regard  for  the  Union  as  a  whole.  He  had 
that  fondness  for  theories  and  abstractions  which  was  char 
acteristic  of  the  Southern  statesmen,  fostered  perhaps  by  the 
isolated  life  of  the  plantation.  With  this  went  a  kind  of 
provincialism  of  thought,  bred  from  the  wide  difference 
which  slavery  made  from  the  life  of  the  world  at  large. 
When  Calhoun,  in  one  of  his  Senate  orations,  was  magni 
fying  the  advantage  of  slave  over  free  labor,  Wade  of 
Ohio,  who  sat  listening  intently,  turned  to  a  neighbor  and 


48  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

exclaimed :  "  That  man  lives  off  of  all  traveled  roads !  " 
He  had  neither  the  arts  nor  the  magnetism  of  the  popular 
politician ;  he  won  no  such  personal  following  as  Clay  and 
Jackson;  but  the  South  more  and  more  accepted  him  as 
the  most  logical  and  far-seeing  champion  of  its  peculiar 
interests. 

His  personality  had  much  in  common  with  Jonathan 
Edwards.  There  was  in  both  the  same  inflexible  logic  and 
devotion  to  ideas,  the  same  personal  purity  and  austerity. 
The  place  of  the  mystic's  fire  which  burned  in  Edwards 
was  taken  in  Calhoun  by  a  passionate  devotion  to  the  com 
monwealth.  In  both  there  was  a  certain  moral  callousness 
which  made  the  one  view  with  complacence  a  universe  includ 
ing  a  perpetual  hell  of  unspeakable  torments ;  while  the  other 
accepted  as  the  ideal  society  a  system  in  which  the  lowest 
class  was  permanently  debased.  Each  was  the  champion 
of  a  cause  destined  to  defeat  because  condemned  by  the 
moral  sentiment  of  the  world, — Edwards  the  advocate  of 
Calvinism,  and  Calhoun  of  slavery. 

Calhoun  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  typical  slave-holder  of 
the  better  class.  He  owned  and  cultivated  a  plantation  with 
several  hundred  slaves;  spent  much  time  upon  it;  made  it 
profitable,  and  dispensed  a  generous  hospitality.  Such  a 
plantation  was  a  little  community,  organized  and  admin 
istered  with  no  small  labor  and  skill ;  with  house  servants, 
often  holding  a  friendly  and  intimate  relation  with  the 
family;  with  a  few  trained  mechanics  and  a  multitude  of 
field  hands.  As  to  physical  comfort  the  slaves  were  prob 
ably  as  well  or  better  provided  than  the  bulk  of  European 
peasantry, — this  on  the  testimony  of  witnesses  as  unfriendly 
to  slavery  as  Fanny  Kemble  and  Dr.  Channing.  Order  and 
some  degree  of  morality  were  enforced,  and  religion, 
largely  of  the  emotional  type,  prevailed  widely.  So  much 
may  be  said,  perhaps,  for  the  average  plantation,  certainly 


Calhoun  and  Garrison  49 

for  the  better  class,  and  a  very  large  class.  Joseph  Le 
Conte,  the  eminent  scientist,  a  writer  of  the  highest  credit, 
in  his  pleasing  autobiography  describes  his  boyhood  on  a 
Georgia  plantation,  and  characterizes  his  father  as  a  man 
of  rare  excellence  to  whom  he  owed  the  best  of  his  mental 
inheritance.  He  writes  of  him :  "  The  best  qualities  of 
character  were  constantly  exercised  in  the  just,  wise,  and 
kindly  management  of  his  200  slaves.  The  negroes  were 
strongly  attached  to  him,  and  proud  of  calling  him  master. 
.  .  .  There  never  was  a  more  orderly,  nor  apparently  a 
happier  working  class  than  the  negroes  of  Liberty  county 
as  I  knew  them  in  my  boyhood." 

Against  this  description  are  to  be  set  such  statements 
as  this  made  by  Frederick  Law  Olmsted,  after  many 
months  of  travel  in  the  South :  "  The  field  hand  negro  is 
on  an  average  a  very  poor  and  a  very  bad  creature,  much 
worse  than  I  had  supposed  before  I  had  seen  him  and  grown 
familiar  with  his  stupidity,  indolence,  duplicity,  and  sen 
suality.  He  seems  to  be  but  an  imperfect  man,  incapable  of 
taking  care  of  himself  in  a  civilized  manner,  and  his  presence 
in  large  numbers  must  be  considered  a  dangerous  circum 
stance  to  a  civilized  people."  Olmsted  saw  no  resource 
but  gradual  emancipation  with  suitable  training.  A  resident 
of  this  same  Liberty  county,  Rev.  C.  C.  Jones,  himself  a 
staunch  supporter  of  slavery,  but  urgent  for  giving  better 
religious  instruction  to  the  slaves,  wrote  in  1842 ;  "  That  the 
negroes  are  in  a  degraded  state  is  a  fact,  so  far  as  my 
knowledge  extends,  universally  conceded.  .  .  .  Negro 
marriages  are  neither  recognized  nor  protected  by  law. 
Uncleanness — this  sin  may  be  considered  as  universal. 
.  They  are  proverbial  thieves."  But  how  could 
"  religious  instruction  "  produce  chastity  in  those  for  whom 
the  law  did  not  recognize  marriage,  or  honesty  in  those  who 
themselves  were  stolen? 


£o  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

But  the  bright  side  of  the  medal,  which  had  so  dark  an 
obverse,  was  the  interpretation  on  which  Calhoim  and  the 
slave-holding  class  took  their  stand.  They  resolutely 
ignored  the  frequent  abuses  and  the  essential  degradation  of 
manhood.  They  fashioned  the  theory — it  was  the  old 
familiar  theory  of  past  ages,  but  had  fallen  out  of  sight  in 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  revolutionary  period — that  society 
rightly  and  properly  is  constituted  with  a  servile  class  as 
its  base.  Calhoun  declared :  "  I  hold  that  there  never  has 
yet  existed  a  wealthy  and  civilized  society  in  which  one 
portion  of  the  community  did  not,  in  point  of  fact,  live  on 
the  labor  of  the  other."  And  generally,  he  adds,  the  con 
dition  of  the  laborer  has  been  worse  than  it  now  is  in  the 
South.  In  advance  of  civilization,  he  declares,  there 
always  comes  a  conflict  between  capital  and  labor;  and 
this  conflict  the  South  avoids  by  unflinchingly  holding  the 
laborer  in  his  subject  condition. 

Calhoun  is  dead,  and  slavery  is  dead,  but  the  ideas  he 
then  avowed  are  still  powerfully,  if  more  latently,  asserting 
themselves  in  our  social  order. 

For  these  theories  the  slave-holders  now  found  justifi 
cation  from  the  ministers  of  religion.  The  South  held  more 
tenaciously  than  any  other  section  to  the  old-fashioned  type 
of  Christianity.  In  earlier  days,  religious  teachers — as  in 
the  unanimous  vote  of  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly 
in  1818 — had  held  slavery  to  be  "  utterly  inconsistent  with 
the  law  of  God,  which  requires  us  to  love  our  neighbor  as 
ourselves."  But  now  the  Southern  ministers  of  all  denom 
inations  appealed  for  ample  justification  to  slavery  as  it  was; 
permitted  under  the  Jewish  law,  and  as  it  existed  in  the. 
time  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles,  and  was  unrebuked  by 
them.  They  went  further  back,  and!  tn  the  curse  pronounced 
by  Noah  upon  the  unfilial  Ham  am£  his  poster^,  they  found 
warrant  for  holding  the  African,  tn  perpetual  "borage.  Sa< 


Calhoun  and  Garrison  51 

the  South  closed  up  its  ranks,  in  Church  and  State,  and 
answered  its  critics  with  self-justification,  and  with  counter 
attack  on  what  it  declared  to  be  their  unconstitutional, 
anarchic,  and  infidel  teachings. 

The  agitation  against  slavery  took  on  a  new  phase  with 
the  appearance  of  Garrison  and  his  founding  of  the  Liberator 
and  the  New  England  Anti-slavery  Society  in  1831.  Gar 
rison  was  filled  and  possessed  with  one  idea — the  wrongs 
of  the  slave,  and  the  instant,  pressing,  universal  duty  of 
giving  him  freedom.  It  was  in  him  an  unselfish  and  heroic 
passion.  For  it  he  cheerfully  accepted  hardship,  obloquy, 
peril.  He  saw  no  difficulties  except  in  the  sin  of  wrong 
doers  and  their  allies;  the  only  course  he  admitted  was 
immediate  emancipation  by  the  master  of  his  human  prop 
erty,  and  the  instant  cooperation  and  urgency  of  all  others 
to  this  end.  His  words  were  charged  with  passion;  they 
kindled  sympathetic  souls  with  their  own  flame ;  they  roused 
to  a  like  heat  those  whom  they  assailed ;  and  they  sent 
thrills  of  alarm,  wonder,  and  wrath,  through  the  community. 
Wherever  the  Liberator  went,  or  the  lecturers  of  the  new 
anti-slavery  societies  were  heard,  there  could  be  no  indif 
ference  or  forgetfulness  as  to  slavery.  Hitherto,  to  the 
immense  mass  of  people  throughout  the  North,  it  had  been 
a  far-away  and  unimportant  matter.  Now  it  was  sent 
home  to  the  business  and  bosoms  of  all  men. 

The  anti-slavery  movement  changed  its  character.  Gar 
rison  entered  on  a  very  active  campaign,  lecturing  and 
establishing  local  societies.  Prominent  among  his  assist 
ants  was  George  Thompson,  one  of  the  English  Abolition 
ists,  who,  after  the  emancipation  of  the  West  India  slaves 
by  the  British  government  at  a  cost  of  £20,000,000,  came 
to  this  country  and  acted  as  Garrison's  ally,  winning  some 
converts  by  his  eloquence,  but  heightening  the  unpopularity 
of  the  movement  through  the  general  hostility  to  foreign 


52  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

interference.  The  early  societies  had  been  largely  in  the 
border  States,  and  their  efforts  had  an  immediate  object 
in  the  political  action  of  their  own  communities.  Now,  the 
resentment  and  fear  of  the  slave-holding  interest  soon 
drove  them  out  of  those  communities.  They  spread  faster 
than  ever, — in  a  few  years  it  was  said  that  they  were  1300, 
— but  were  confined  to  the  free  States.  What  immediate 
and  practical  aim  could  they  pursue?  It  was  the  question 
of  practical  action  that  brought  Garrison's  views  to  a  sharp 
test,  and  soon  divided  him  from  the  great  body  of  anti- 
slavery  people. 

In  Garrison's  mind  there  was  room  for  only  one  idea 
at  a  time.  Slavery  was  a  crime,  a  sin,  an  abomination, — that 
to  him  was  the  first,  the  last,  the  whole  truth  of  the  matter. 
He  had  little  education,  and  he  had  not  in  the  least  a 
judicial  or  an  open  mind.  It  was  to  him  clear  and  certain 
that  the  blacks  were  in  every  way  the  equal  of  the  whites. 
Of  the  complexity  of  human  society;  of  the  vital  necessity 
of  a  political  bond  uniting  communities,  and  of  the  inevitable 
imperfections  and  compromises  which  are  the  price  of  an 
established  social  order;  of  the  process  of  evolution  by 
which  humanity  slowly  grows  from  one  stage  into  another ; 
of  the  fact  that  the  negro  was  in  some  ways  better  as  a 
slave  in  America  than  as  a  savage  in  Africa,  and  that  there 
must  be  other  intermediate  stages  in  his  development ;  of  the 
consideration  due  to  honest  differences  of  opinion  and  to 
deeply-rooted  habits — of  all  this  Garrison  was  as  ignorant 
as  a  six-years-old  child.  When  facts  came  in  his  way,  he 
denied  them;  when  institutions  stood  across  his  path,  he 
denounced  them ;  when  men  differed  from  him,  he  assailed 
them. 

As  to  a  practical  course  of  action  by  Northern  people,  he 
was  absolutely  without  resource.  How  were  they  to  free 
the  slaves  ?  Not  by  force — force  was  to  Garrison  as  wicked 


Calhoun  and  Garrison  53 

as  slavery  itself.  By  their  votes?  That  was  only  possible 
under  the  government  as  ordained  by  the  Constitution ;  and 
the  Constitution  allowed  no  action  against  slavery  except 
by  each  State  for  itself.  The  worse  then  for  the  Con 
stitution!  Ere  many  years  Garrison  declared,  and  put  as 
a  standing  heading  to  the  Liberator :  "  The  United  States 
Constitution  Is  a  Covenant  with  Death  and  an  Agreement 
with  Hell."  He  went  further ;  for  a  time  at  least  he  held  that 
all  human  governments,  as  resting  on  force,  were  sinful, 
and  to  be  ignored,  or  passively  submitted  to,  without  taking 
active  part.  He  declared  the  Union,  as  a  compact  with 
slave-holders,  was  worthy  only  to  be  dissolved.  But  how 
even  dissolve  it,  since  he  counselled  his  followers  not  to 
vote?  And  if  it  were  dissolved,  how  would  the  slaves  be 
any  nearer  freedom?  Was  there  any  possible  good  out 
come  to  non-voting  and  dissolution  of  the  Union,  except 
that  there  would  then  be  no  complicity  with  slave-holders? 
And  would  such  escape  from  complicity  be  any  help  to  the 
slave,  any  service  to  humanity,  anything  more  than  an  ego 
tistic  separation  from  political  society,  a  mere  refined 
selfishness  ? 

Such  questions  never  troubled  Garrison.  Instead  of 
answering  them,  he  found  something  else  to  denounce. 
The  churches  he  thought  were  derelict,  in  that  they  did  not 
bear  testimony  against  slavery.  True,  most  of  the  great 
religious  bodies  of  the  country  were  soon  rent  asunder  on 
the  question:  Methodists,  Baptists,  Presbyterians,  were 
divided  between  North  and  South,  because  neither  side 
could  tolerate  the  other's  position  on  slavery.  But  nothing 
satisfied  Mr.  Garrison.  To  him  the  churches  were  "  cages 
of  unclean  birds  and  synagogues  of  Satan." 

But  if  the  gun  was  ill-aimed,  at  least  the  recoil  was  pro 
digious.  It  is  unreasonable  to  attribute  principally  to  the 
violence  of  the  Liberator  the  new  and  determined  rally  of 


54  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  South  in  defense  of  slavery, — Calhoun  and  his  followers 
had  far  wider  grounds  for  their  action  than  that, — but 
undoubtedly  that  violence  helped  to  consolidate  and  inten 
sify  the  Southern  resistance.  The  Abolitionist  papers  were 
at  first  sent  all  over  the  South.  The  Southerners  saw  little 
difference  between  such  papers  as  the  Liberator  and  such 
direct  incitements  to  insurrection  as  Walker's  Appeal;  and 
the  horrors  of  Nat  Turner's  rising  were  fresh  in  mind. 
They  put  all  Abolitionist  teaching  under  a  common  ban. 
At  the  North,  the  anti-slavery  cause  became  associated  in 
the  popular  mind  with  hostility  to  the  government,  to  the 
churches,  to  the  established  usages  of  society.  It  was 
Charles  Sumner  who  said :  "  An  omnibus  load  of  Boston 
Abolitionists  had  done  more  harm  to  the  anti-slavery  cause 
than  all  its  enemies." 

Garrison's  own  following  was  soon  divided,  and  a  large 
part  drew  away  from  him.  The  most  important  division 
came  on  the  question  of  political  action,  when,  in  the  Pres 
idential  election  of  1840,  the  practical  wing  entered  into 
the  political  field,  as  the  inevitable  and  only  arena  for  effec 
tive  action;  nominated  a  candidate,  and  laid  the  foundation 
for  the  election  of  Lincoln  twenty  years  later.  In  the 
American  Anti-slavery  Society  there  came  a  contest;  Gar 
rison  triumphed  by  a  narrow  vote,  but  a  secession  followed. 
Of  his  immediate  and  permanent  allies  the  most  important 
was  Wendell  Phillips.  He  threw  himself  heart  and  soul 
into  the  cause ;  he  gave  to  it  an  educated  and  brilliant  mind, 
and  a  fascinating  oratory;  he  was  as  uncompromising  and 
censorious  as  Garrison. 

Garrison  always  held  a  place  of  honor  and  friendship 
among  the  Abolitionists,  even  those  who  refused  to  follow 
his  leadership.  In  private  life  his  genial  and  winning  traits 
were  as  marked  as  was  his  fierceness  on  the  platform.  The 
term  "  Abolitionist "  is  somewhat  indefinite,  but  it  may  best 


Calhoun  and  Garrison  55 

be  defined  as  denoting  a  person  to  whom  the  supreme 
interest  in  public  affairs  was  the  extinction  of  slavery.  It 
included  not  only  those  who  shared  Garrison's  ideas  of  non- 
voting  and  peaceable  disunion,  but  those,  too,  like  Birney 
and  Whittier,  who  respected  the  Constitution  and  worked 
for  their  cause  through  a  political  party.  The  term  also 
applied  to  the  few  who,  like  John  Brown,  would  attack 
slavery  by  force  of  arms.  On  the  other  hand,  the  name 
Abolitionist  did  not  properly  belong  to  those  who  were 
opposed  to  slavery,  but  held  that  opposition  along  with 
other  political  tenets  and  not  as  a  supreme  article  of  faith. 
These  were  best  included  under  the  general  term  of  "  anti- 
slavery  men,"  a  designation  accepted  by  many  of  the  Free 
Soil,  Whig  and  Democratic  parties,  and  later  by  the  Repub 
lican  party.  The  classification  cannot  be  made  exact,  but 
the  word  "  Abolitionists  "  generally  designated  the  men  and 
women  to  whom  the  extinction  of  slavery  was  a  primary 
interest,  and  who  gave  to  it  their  habitual  and  earnest  atten 
tion,  through  the  anti-slavery  societies  and  otherwise.  In 
this  broader  sense,  the  Abolitionists  were  a  notable  company. 
They  were  bound  together  by  a  disinterested  and  noble 
sentiment,  and  by  sacrifices  to  the  cause.  The  hostility 
aroused  by  Garrison,  Phillips,  Pilsbury,  and  a  few  like- 
minded  associates,  extended  to  many  who  went  to  no  such 
extremes.  The  anti-slavery  speakers  were  sometimes  mobbed : 
once  in  Boston  a  rope  was  round  Garrison's  neck  and 
his  life  was  in  peril;  meetings  were  broken  up;  and  the 
respectable  part  of  the  community  sometimes  encouraged  or 
tolerated  these  assaults.  Actual  physical  injury  was  very 
rare,  but  a  hostile  social  atmosphere  was  the  frequent  price 
of  fidelity  to  conscience. 

Among  the  most  notable  of  the  leaders  was  Gerritt  Smith. 
He  took  active  part  in  politics,  and  was  for  a  time  in  Con 
gress.  He  is  finely  characterized  by  Andrew  D.  White: 


56  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

"  Of  all  tribunes  of  the  people  I  have  ever  known  he  dwells 
in  my  memory  as  possessing  the  greatest  variety  of  gifts. 
He  had  the  prestige  given  by  great  wealth,  by  lavish  gener 
osity,  by  transparent  honesty,  by  earnestness  of  purpose, 
by  advocacy  of  every  good  cause,  by  a  superb  presence,  and 
by  natural  eloquence  of  a  very  high  order.  He  was  very 
tall  and  large,  with  a  noble  head,  an  earnest  yet  kindly 
face,  and  of  all  human  voices  I  have  ever  heard  his  was  the 
most  remarkable  for  its  richness,  depth,  and  strength." 

Women  took  a  prominent  and  honorable  part;  the 
venerable  and  beautiful  Lucretia  Mott  gave  her  benign 
presence  to  the  gatherings;  Lydia  Maria  Child  made  heavy 
sacrifices  in  the  good  cause.  In  the  common  ardor,  and 
with  a  Quaker  precedent,  women  took  part  as  speakers. 
Women's  rights  was  closely  united  with  anti-slavery ;  and 
hence  came  a  fresh  odium  from  conservative  quarters,  while 
the  admirable  bearing  of  the  leading  women  won  growing 
favor  for  both  lines  of  emancipation.  The  makers  of  the 
new  American  literature  were  friends  of  the  anti-slavery 
cause.  Emerson  gave  to  it  his  words  of  serene  inspiration. 
Whittier  was  among  its  ardent  apostles,  shared  in  its  polit 
ical  activity,  and  sang  lyrics  of  freedom.  Bryant  was  its 
strong  advocate  in  journalism.  Lowell,  drawn  by  his  noble 
wife,  came  as  a  strong  ally,  and  the  Biglow  Papers  gave 
what  had  been  greatly  lacking, — the  salt  of  humor. 

The  Abolitionists  might  be  compared  to  a  comet,— a  body 
with  a  bright  head  and  a  nebulous  tail.  Like  all  radicals 
and  reformers  they  had  a  fringe  of  unbalanced  and  crotchety 
folk.  It  must  be  said,  too,  that  absorption  in  a  topic  remote 
from  the  concerns  of  one's  daily  life  is  apt  to  be  somewhat 
distracting  and  demoralizing.  Dr.  Joseph  Henry  Allen — an 
admirable  and  too  little  known  writer — has  in  an  eloquent 
and  beautiful  passage  described  the  Abolitionists  (though 
he  was  not  one  of  them)  as  the  devotees  of  a  genuine  and 


Calhoun  and  Garrison  57 

heroic  religion.  But  any  adequate  religion  must  find  its 
main  application  in  the  duties  and  services  of  the  immediate 
present;  and  the  men  and  women  who  were  possessed  day 
and  night  by  the  wrongs  of  those  to  whom  they  could  render 
little  service,  were  apt  to  be  thrown  out  of  touch  with  near 
and  homely  relations,  and  become  what  are  now  called 
"  cranks." 

But  to  appreciate  the  service  of  the  Abolitionists  we  must 
remember  that  up  to  the  birth  of  the  Republican  party  in 
1854  almost  all  of  the  political  leaders  and  men  of  public 
affairs,  as  well  as  most  of  the  churches,  colleges,  and  pro 
fessional  educators,  held  aloof  from  the  anti-slavery  cause. 
With  a  few  exceptions,  they  left  the  work  of  educating 
public  sentiment,  and  shaping  some  policy  on  the  supreme 
question,  to  be  done  by  this  little  company, — of  lecturers, 
ministers,  literary  men  and  women.  These  did  loyally  and 
bravely  according  to  their  lights ;  and  they  had  their  reward, 
outwardly  in  unpopularity  and  sometimes  persecution,  but 
inwardly  in  a  social  atmosphere  within  their  own  body, 
warm,  joyful,  and  religious;  and  the  sense  of  alliance  with 
the  Divine  Force  in  the  universe.  Said  Wendell  Phillips: 
"  One  man  with  God  is  a  majority." 


CHAPTER   VI 

BIRNEY,  CHANNING,  AND  WEBSTER 

OF  the  moderate  wing  of  the  anti-slavery  men,  a  good  repre 
sentative  was  James  G.  Birney.  With  the  fine  physical 
presence  and  genial  manhood  of  the  typical  Kentuckian,  he 
had  a  well-balanced  mind  and  a  thorough  loyalty  to  the 
sense  of  duty,  which  broadened  as  he  grew.  Removing  to 
Alabama,  he  became  anti-slavery  in  his  sentiments,  and  he 
was  a  friend  not  only  of  the  negro,  but  of  all  who  were 
oppressed.  As  the  legal  representative  of  the  Cherokee 
nation  he  stood  for  years  between  the  Indians  and  those 
who  would  wrong  them.  He  identified  himself  for  a  time 
with  the  colonization  cause ;  and,  finding  himself  growing 
powerless  in  Southern  communities,  he  removed  to  Ohio, 
where  there  was  a  strong  and  vigorous  anti-slavery  propa 
ganda.  One  incident  of  his  life  in  Cincinnati  illustrates  the 
concrete  form  which  slavery  sometimes  took.  A  Missou- 
rian  owned  a  slave  girl  who  was  his  own  daughter,  a  culti 
vated  and  refined  woman.  He  took  her  to  the  East  for  a 
visit,  treated  her  habitually  as  one  of  his  own  family,  but 
refused  her  prayers  for  freedom.  Dreading  the  possibilities 
of  her  lot,  she  made  her  escape  in  Cincinnati ;  and,  con 
cealing  her  identity  and  history,  she  got  a  situation  as  a 
servant  in  Mr.  Birney's  family.  One  day  when  he  was 
absent  from  the  city  she  came  home  in  terror ;  she  had  been 
recognized  on  the  street  by  two  professional  slave-catchers  ; 
now  she  told  her  story  and  implored  protection.  In  vain, — • 
the  officers  of  the  law  dragged  her  from  the  house;  a  judge 
gave  speedy  sentence  that  she  was  a  slave;  she  was 


Birney,  Charming,  and  Webster  59 

taken  sobbing  to  jail;  and  the  next  day  she  was  carried 
down  the  river  to  New  Orleans,  where  she  was  sold  on  the 
auction  block, — and  never  heard  of  again. 

Birney  took  part  in  the  work  of  the  new  anti-slavery  soci 
eties,  but  he  did  not  follow  Garrison's  no-government  theo 
ries.  He  favored  for  a  while  the  policy  of  throwing  the 
anti-slavery  strength  for  such  congressional  nominees  of 
the  regular  parties  as  favored  their  views,  and  several  can 
didates  were  chosen  in  this  way.  But  when  Clay  became 
pronounced  against  the  Abolitionists,  and  even  John  Quincy 
Adams,  after  championing  the  right  of  petition,  voted 
against  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
Birney  and  his  sympathizers  gave  up  hope  of  help  from 
existing  parties,  and  organized  their  own  party  for  the  elec 
tion  of  1840.  Its  principles  were  resistance  to  slavery  ex 
tension,  and  opposition  to  slavery  so  far  as  was  practicable 
under  the  Constitution, — the  principles  later  of  the  Republi 
can  party.  Birney  was  nominated  for  President,  and  this 
handful  of  voters  was  the  seed  of  the  harvest  twenty  years 
later.  He  was  again  the  candidate  in  1844,  with  an  in 
creased  support,  and  the  party  now  was  named  "The 
Liberty  Party." 

A  leader  and  type  of  the  moderate  anti-slavery  sentiment 
was  William  Ellery  Channing.  In  Channing  was  a  blend 
ing  of  high  moral  ideals,  intelligent  views  of  human  nature 
and  society,  an  apostle's  earnestness  wedded  with  "  sweet 
reasonableness,"  and  a  personal  character  of  rare  sym 
metry  and  beauty.  He  was  an  evolutionist  and  not  a  revo 
lutionist.  Foremost  among  the  group  of  New  England 
ministers  who  broadened  and  ripened  out  of  the  orthodoxy 
of  their  day,  and  were  ostracized  by  their  former  brethren, 
he  was  forced  into  the  position  of  leader  of  a  new  sect,  but 
his  utterances  and  spirit  were  always  those  of  a  minister  of 
the  church  universal.  He  was  the  early  advocate  of  most 


60  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

of  the  religious  and  social  reforms  which  have  since  come 
to  the  front.  By  preference,  he  always  used  the  methods 
of  peace  and  persuasion.  He  had  made  early  acquaintance 
with  slavery  in  a  two-years'  residence  in  Richmond  while 
a  young  man.  He  was  always  opposed  to  it,  but  his  atten 
tion  was  long  absorbed  by  the  immediate  needs  of  his  own 
people.  He  spent  half  a  year  in  Santa  Cruz,  for  his  health, 
in  1830-1, — just  when  Garrison  was  starting  the  Liberator, — 
and  slavery  came  home  to  him  with  new  force.  The  plan 
tation  on  which  he  lived  was  one  of  the  best  in  the  West 
Indies.  The  proprietor  had  taken  a  pride  in  the  character 
and  condition  of  his  slaves.  But  he  had  fallen  into  bank 
ruptcy,  his  estate  had  been  sold,  and  the  new  proprietor 
left  it  in  charge  of  an  overseer  who  was  a  passionate  and 
licentious  man,  under  whom  the  slaves  suffered  a  very  dif 
ferent  treatment.  Most  pathetic  incidents  came  under  Dr. 
Channing's  notice.  But  from  all  he  saw  about  him  he  con 
cluded  that  the  physical  sufferings  of  the  slaves  had  been 
exaggerated  by  report;  that,  with  occasional  cruelties,  they 
were  better  off  as  to  physical  comfort  than  most  of  the 
European  peasantry.  He  writes  to  an  English  correspond 
ent,  "  I  suspect  that  a  gang  of  negroes  receive  fewer  stripes 
than  a  company  of  soldiers  of  the  same  number  in  your 
army  " ;  that  they  are  under  a  less  iron  discipline  and  suffer 
incomparably  less  than  soldiers  in  a  campaign.  But  he 
adds,  and  always  insists,  that  their  condition  degrades  them 
intellectually  and  morally,  lowers  them  toward  the  brutes, 
and  in  this  respect  the  misery  of  slavery  cannot  be  ex 
pressed  too  strongly.  Marriage  is  almost  unknown ;  family 
life,  with  its  mutual  dependence  and  the  resulting  tender 
ness,  scarcely  exists ;  and  thus  "  the  poor  negro  is  excluded 
from  Nature's  primary  school  for  the  affections  and  the 
whole  character."  "  The  like  causes  are  fatal  to  energy, 
foresight,  self-control." 


Birney,  Charming,  and  Webster  61 

The  inspiration  of  Channing's  creed,  the  soul  of  the  new 
movement  in  religion,  was  the  potential  nobility  of  human 
nature — a  nobility  to  be  made  real  by  utmost  effort  of  the 
individual,  and  by  all  wisest  appliances  of  society.  It  was 
from  this  standpoint  that  he  judged  slavery,  and  in  this 
spirit  that  while  still  in  Santa  Cruz  he  began  to  write  his 
treatise  upon  it. 

Returning  to  Boston,  he  spoke  with  clearness  and  weight 
to  his  congregation :  "  I  think  no  power  of  conception  can 
do  justice  to  the  evils  of  slavery.  They  are  chiefly  moral, 
they  act  on  the  mind,  and  through  the  mind  bring  intense 
suffering  to  the  body.  As  far  as  the  human  soul  can  be 
destroyed,  slavery  is  that  destroyer."  Having  borne  his 
testimony,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  general  work  of  his 
ministry.  The  violence  of  the  men  who  had  come  to  the 
front  in  Abolitionism  was  not  only  against  his  taste  and 
feeling,  but  against  his  deep  convictions ;  as  he  had  written 
years  before  to  Webster,  he  saw  in  these  denunciations  of 
the  slave-holder  seeds  of  a  harvest  of  sectional  hate  and 
national  disaster. 

A  characteristic  conversation  with  him  is  recorded  by 
Rev.  Samuel  J.  May,  himself  in  full  alliance  with  the  Aboli 
tionists,  but  a  man  of  great  sweetness  and  sanity,  never 
diverted  from  his  religious  ministry  or  losing  his  mental 
balance.  Dr.  Channing  dwelt  on  the  excesses  of  the  Aboli 
tionists  until  Mr.  May  was  aroused,  and  broke  out :  "  Dr. 
Channing,  I  am  tired  of  these  complaints !  The  cause  of 
suffering  humanity,  the  cause  of  our  oppressed,  crushed, 
colored  countrymen,  has  called  as  loudly  upon  others  as 
upon  us,  who  are  known  as  the  Abolitionists.  But  the  others 
have  done  nothing.  The  wise  and  prudent  saw  the  wrong, 
but  did  nothing  to  remove  it.  The  priest  and  Levite  passed 
by  on  the  other  side;  the  children  of  Abraham  held  their 
peace,  until  '  the  very  stones  have  cried  out '  against  this 


62  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

tremendous  wickedness.  The  people  who  have  taken  up 
the  cause  may  lack  the  calmness  and  discretion  of  scholars, 
clergy,  and  statesmen, — but  the  scholars,  clergy,  and  states 
men,  have  done  nothing.  We  Abolitionists  are  just  what 
we  arCj — babes  and  sucklings,  obscure  men,  silly  women, 
publicans,  sinners;  and  we  shall  manage  the  matter  we 
have  taken  in  hand  just  as  might  be  expected  of  such  per 
sons  as  we  are.  It  is  unbecoming  in  able  men,  who  stood 
by  and  would  do  nothing,  to  complain  of  us  because  we 
manage  this  matter  no  better." 

And  so  the  torrent  of  words  dashed  upon  the  silent  lis 
tener,  until  the  speaker  suddenly  bethought  himself  and 
stopped  in  abashment, — this  man  he  was  rebuking  had  been 
to  him  as  a  father  in  God,  his  kind  friend  from  childhood, 
and  first  among  the  great  and  good.  Almost  overwhelmed 
by  his  own  temerity,  he  watched  the  agitated  face  of  his 
hearer  and  waited  in  painful  suspense  for  the  reply.  At 
last,  in  a  very  subdued  manner  and  in  his  kindest  tones  of 
voice,  he  said,  "  Brother  May,  I  acknowledge  the  justice  of 
your  reproof;  I  have  been  silent  too  long." 

May's  appeal  had  only  quickened  a  little  the  sure  work  of 
Channing's  conscience.  A  few  months  later,  in  December, 
1835,  he  published  his  short  treatise  on  Slavery.  No 
weightier  word  on  the  subject  was  ever  spoken.  If  man 
kind  were  moved  by  their  higher  reason  the  North  would 
not  have  waited  twenty  years  to  be  converted  to  anti-slavery 
by  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin.  And  if  the  South  had  been  wise 
in  her  day,  she  would  have  listened  to  this  noble  and  per 
suasive  utterance.  No  passion  sullied  its  temper;  slave  and 
slave-holder  were  held  in  equal  regard ;  the  case  was  pleaded 
on  irresistible  grounds — of  facts  beyond  question  and  rooted 
in  the  very  constitution  of  human  nature.  The  needed, 
the  righteous,  the  inevitable  reform,  was  shown  as  part  of 
the  upward  movement  of  humanity,  and  as  appealing  to 


Birney,  Channing,  and  Webster  63 

every  consideration  of  practical  wisdom  and  of  justice. 
The  little  book  of  150  pages  deserves  to  be  held  as  a  classic 
in  American  history. 

Channing  never  lost  the  sense  of  proportion  in  his  own 
work.  He  went  on  giving  inspiration  and  leadership  to 
religious  thought  and  to  social  .advance.  It  was  neither 
necessary  nor  possible  for  him  to  be  in  close  sym 
pathy  or  habitual  alliance  with  the  extreme  Abolitionists. 
But  he  vindicated  the  right  of  free  speech  when  it  was 
denied  them,  and  he  was  recognized  by  the  best  of  their 
number  as  a  friend  of  the  cause.  Mrs.  Lydia  Maria  Child, 
— like  Mr.  May,  one  of  the  finest  spirits  among  the  Aboli 
tionists — wrote :  "  He  constantly  grew  upon  my  respect, 
until  I  came  to  regard  him  as  the  wisest  as  well  as  the 
gentlest  apostle  of  humanity.  I  owe  him  thanks  for  pre 
serving  me  from  the  one-sidedness  to  which  zealous  re 
formers  are  so  apt  to  run.  He  never  sought  to  undervalue 
the  importance  of  anti-slavery,  but  he  said  many  things  to 
prevent  me  from  looking  upon  it  as  the  only  question  inter 
esting  to  humanity." 

Side  by  side  with  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  was  growing 
another  sentiment — distinct  from  it,  at  first  often  in  practi 
cal  hostility  to  it,  but  at  last  blending  with  it  for  a  common 
triumph.  It  was  the  sentiment  of  American  nationality — 
the  love  of  the  Union.  The  separate  colonies  were  brought 
together  in  the  Revolution  by  a  common  peril  and  a  com 
mon  struggle.  Then  their  tendency  to  fall  apart  was  coun 
teracted  by  the  strong  bond  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Fed 
eral  government.  Diverse  interests  and  mutual  distrust 
still  tended  to  draw  them  asunder.  With  the  continuance 
of  the  Union,  the  strengthening  of  the  tie  by  use,  the  hal 
lowing  of  old  associations  under  the  glamour  of  memory, 
and  the  growth  of  the  new  bonds  of  commerce  and  travel, 
the  sense  of  a  common  country  and  destiny  began  to  take 


64  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

root  in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  on  occasion  disclosed  itself 
with  the  strength  and  nobility  of  a  heroic  passion.  True, 
a  new  rift  was  appearing,  in  the  doctrine  of  nullification 
and  the  question  of  slavery,  but  this  evoked  at  times  a  more 
militant  and  again  a  more  appealing  aspect  in  the  sentiment 
of  union.  Jackson  seemed  to  rise  from  the  rough  frontiers 
man  to  the  guardian  of  the  nation  when  he  gave  the  word, 
"  The  Federal  Union— it  must  be  preserved !  "  Clay  found 
the  noblest  exercise  of  his  eloquence  and  his  diplomacy  in 
evoking  the  national  spirit  and  in  harmonizing  the  differ 
ences  which  threatened  it.  But  the  most  stirring  voice  and 
effective  leadership  was  that  of  Daniel  Webster. 

As  Webster  is  judged  in  the  retrospect,  we  see  that  he 
was  not  so  much  a  statesman,  still  less  a  moral  idealist, 
as  an  advocate.  His  lucidity  of  statement  and  emotional 
power  were  not  matched  by  constructive  ability.  His  name 
is  associated  with  no  great  measure  of  administration,  no 
large  and  definite  policy.  He  was  luminous  in  statement 
rather  than  sagacious  in  judgment,  an  advocate  rather  than 
a  judge.  On  the  platform  or  in  the  Senate  he  was  still  pre 
eminently  the  lawyer,  in  that,  like  a  lawyer,  he  was  the  rep 
resentative  and  exponent  of  established  interests, — not  the 
projector  of  new  social  adjustments.  Civil  law  represents 
a  vast  accumulated  experience  and  tradition  of  mankind; 
it  has  been  slowly  wrought  out,  as  a  regulation  and  adjust 
ment  of  existing  interests;  with  an  effort  toward  equity, 
as  understood  by  the  best  intelligence  of  each  period,  but 
always  with  immense  regard  for  precedent  and  previous 
usage.  It  was  in  this  spirit,  highly  conservative  of  what 
has  already  been  secured,  and  extremely  cautious  toward 
radical  change,  that  Webster  habitually  dealt  with  political 
institutions.  It  was  characteristic  of  him  that  in  the  Mas 
sachusetts  constitutional  convention  in  1820  he  pleaded 
strongly  for  the  retention  of  the  property  qualification  of 


Birney,  Charming,  and  Webster  65 

voters  for  State  senators.  But  when  the  tide  moved  irre 
sistibly  toward  manhood  suffrage,  he  acquiesced. 

But  conservative  as  he  was  by  nature,  he  was  in  profound 
sympathy  with  a  sentiment  which  while  rooted  in  the  past 
was  yet  in  the  J2os  and  '305  a  young,  plastic,  growing  idea, 
— the  idea  of  American  Union,  indissoluble,  perpetual.  No 
voice  was  so  powerful  as  Webster's  to  fill  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  man  with  this  lofty  passion.  His  orations  at 
Plymouth  Rock,  at  Bunker  Hill,  and  upon  the  simultaneous 
deaths  of  Adams  and  Jefferson,  his  vindication  of  the  na 
tional  idea  against  the  localism  of  Hayne  and  Calhoun, — 
were  organ-voices  of  patriotism.  They  thrilled  the  souls 
of  those  who  listened;  they  went  over  the  country  and 
printed  themselves  on  the  minds  of  men;  school-boys  de 
claimed  passages  from  them ;  they  became  part  of  the  gospel 
of  the  American  people. 

We  may  quote  a  single  passage  from  the  address  inspired 
by  that  dramatic  circumstance,  the  death  at  once  of  John 
Adams  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence :  "  It  cannot  be  denied, 
but  by  those  who  would  dispute  against  the  sun,  that  with 
America  and  in  America  a  new  era  commences  in  human 
affairs.  This  era  is  distinguished  by  free  representative 
governments,  by  entire  religious  liberty,  by  improved  sys 
tems  of  national  intercourse,  by  a  newly  awakened  and  an 
unconquerable  spirit  of  free  inquiry,  and  by  a  diffusion  of 
knowledge  through  the  community,  such  as  has  been  before 
altogether  unknown  and  unheard  of.  America,  America, 
our  country,  fellow-countrymen,  our  own  dear  and  native 
land,  is  inseparably  connected,  fast  bound  up,  in  fortune  and 
by  fate,  with  these  great  interests.  If  they  fall,  we  fall  with 
them ;  if  they  stand,  it  will  be  because  we  have  maintained 
them.  .  .  .  If  we  cherish  the  virtues  and  the  principles  of 
our  fathers,  heaven  will  assist  us  to  carry  on  the  work  of 


66  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

human  liberty  and  human  happiness.  Auspicious  omens 
cheer  us.  Great  examples  are  before  us.  Our  own  firma 
ment  now  shines  brightly  upon  our  paths.  Washington  is 
in  the  upper  sky.  These  other  stars  have  now  joined  the 
American  constellation;  they  circle  round  their  center,  and 
the  heavens  beam  with  new  light.  Beneath  this  illumina 
tion  let  us  walk  the  course  of  life,  and  at  its  close  devoutly 
commend  our  beloved  country,  the  common  parent  of  us  all, 
to  the  Divine  Benignity." 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  UNDERLYING  FORCES 

Two  master  passions  strove  for  leadership  in  the  mind  and 
heart  of  America.  One  was  love  of  the  united  nation  and 
ardor  to  maintain  its  union.  The  other  was  the  aspiration 
to  purify  the  nation,  by  removing  the  wrong  of  slavery. 
Unionist  and  Abolitionist  stood  face  to  face.  After  many 
years  they  were  to  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder,  in  a  common 
cause.  In  a  larger  sense  than  he  gave  the  words,  Webster's 
utterance  became  the  final  watchword :  "  Liberty  and 
Union,  now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable." 

In  the  retrospect  of  history,  our  attention  naturally  fas 
tens  on  the  conspicuous  and  heroic  figures.  But  we  must 
not  forget  the  underlying  and  often  determining  forces, — • 
the  interests,  beliefs,  and  passions,  of  the  mass  of  the  com 
munity.  And,  while  listening  intently  to  the  articulate 
voices,  the  impressive  utterances,  we  are  to  remember  that 
the  life  of  the  community  as  of  the  individual  is  shaped 
oftenest  by  the  inarticulate,  unavowed,  half-unconscious 
sentiments : 

Below  the  surface  stream,  shallow  and  light, 
Of  what  we  say  we  feel, — below  the  stream, 
As  light,  of  what  we  think  we  feel,  there  flows 
With  noiseless  current,  strong,  obscure   and  deep, 
The  central  stream  of  what  we  feel  indeed. 

The  underlying  human  force  in  the  slavery  question  was 
the  primitive  instinct  in  man  to  keep  all  he  has  got ;  the  in 
stinct  of  the  man  who  lives  at  another's  expense  to  keep 

67 


68  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

on  doing  so.  That  underlay  all  the  fine  theories  about  dif 
ferences  of  race,  all  the  theological  deductions  from  Noah's 
curse  upon  Canaan.  Another  great  and  constant  factor  was 
the  absorption  of  men  and  communities,  not  personally 
concerned  in  a  social  wrong,  in  pursuits  and  interests  of 
their  own  which  shut  out  all  outlook  beyond.  In  our  day 
we  hear  much  about  the  crowding  rush  of  material  inter 
ests,  but  that  crowd  and  rush  was  felt  almost  as  much  in 
the  earlier  generations,  when  hardly  less  than  the  most 
strident  tones  of  the  agitator  could  pierce  the  absorption 
of  the  street  and  market-place.  There  was  the  inertia  of 
custom ;  there  were  the  commercial  interests  closely  inter 
woven  of  the  Southern  planter  and  the  Northern  manufac 
turer;  there  was  the  prejudice  of  color  and  race;  and  all 
these  influences,  open  or  latent,  told  powerfully  for  keeping 
slavery  as  it  was. 

The  great  default,  the  fatal  failure,  was  the  omission  of 
the  Southern  whites,  especially  their  leaders  by  education 
and  by  popular  recognition,  to  take  deliberate  and  syste- 
matiqf measures  for  the  removal  of  slavery.  Difficult  ?  Yes, 
very.  Impossible?  Why,  almost  every  other  country  of 
North  and  South  America, — including  the  Spanish-Ameri 
cans  on  whom  the  English-Americans  look  down  with  such 
superiority, — these  all  got  rid  of  slavery  without  violence  or 
revolution.  Whatever  the  case  required, — of  preparation, 
compensation,  new  industrial  arrangement, — the  Southern 
whites  had  the  whole  business  in  their  hands,  to  deal  with 
as  they  pleased.  Whatever  cries  might  be  raised  by  a  few 
for  instant  and  unconditional  emancipation,  there  never  was 
a  day  when  the  vast  mass  of  the  American  people,  of  all 
sections,  were  not  avowedly  and  unmistakably  committed 
to  letting  the  Southern  States  treat  slavery  as  their  own 
matter,  and  deal  with  it  as  they  pleased,  provided  only  they 
kept  it  at  home.  Excuses  for  non-action  there  were,  of 


The  Underlying  Forces  69 

course, — the  perplexities  of  the  situation,  the  irritation  of 
criticism  from  without, — but  Nature  has  no  use  for  excuses. 
If  there  is  a  cancer  in  the  system  it  is  useless  to  plead  the 
expense  of  the  surgery  or  the  pain  of  the  knife.  The  alter 
native  is  simple — removal  or  death. 

It  is  always  impossible  to  distinguish  closely  in  the  causes 
of  events  between  the  action  of  human  will  and  the  wider 
forces  which  we  call  Nature  or  Providence.  But  in  some 
eras  we  distinguish  more  clearly  than  in  others  the  effect 
of  human  personalities.  For  example,  in  the  making  of  the 
Constitution  we  see  a  difficult  situation  taken  wisely  and 
resolutely  in  hand  by  a  group  of  strong  men;  they  made 
themselves  a  part  of  Fate.  But  in  the  fluctuating  history 
of  slavery,  with  its  final  catastrophe,  we  seem  to  be  looking 
at  elemental  movements;  masses  of  men  drifting  under  im 
pulses,  with  no  leadership  adequate  to  the  occasion.  The 
men  who  seemingly  might  have  mastered  the  situation,  and 
brought  it  to  a  peaceful  and  right  solution,  either  could  not 
or  would  not  do  it. 

What  happened  was,  that  two  opposite  social  systems, 
existing  within  the  same  political  body,  came  into  rivalry, 
into  hostility,  and  at  last  into  direct  conflict.  £ln  the  early 
stages,  slavery  had  on  its  side  the  advantage  of  an  estab 
lished  place  under  the  law,  the  support  of  its  local  commu 
nities  becoming  more  and  more  determined,  the  long-time 
indifference  and  inertia  of  the  free  States,  custom,  conser 
vatism,  timidity,  race  prejudice.  But  against  all  this  were 
operating  steadily  two  tremendous  forces.  In  the  race  for 
industrial  advantage  which  is  at  last  the  decisive  test,  free 
society  was  superior  to  slave  society  by  as  much  as  the  free 
man  is  superior  to  the  slave.  The  advantage  of  the  North 
ern  farmer  or  mechanic  over  the  negro  slave  was  the  meas 
ure  of  the  advantage  of  the  North  over  the  South.  In  in 
crease  of  wealth;  in  variety,  intensity,  and  productiveness 


70  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

of  social  life;  in  immigration;  in  intellectual  progress,  the 
free  States  outstripped  the  slave  States  by  leaps  and  bounds. 
And,  again,  in  the  conscience  of  humanity, — in  mankind's 
sense  of  right  and  wrong,  which  grows  ever  a  more  potent 
factor  in  the  world's  affairs, — the  tide  was  setting  steadily 
and  swiftly  against  slavery.  To  impatient  reformers  who, 
as  Horace  Mann  said,  were  always  in  a  hurry,  while  God 
never  is, — the  tide  might  seem  motionless  or  refluent,  as  to 
him  who  looks  hastily  from  the  ocean  shore ;  but  as  the  sea 
follows  the  moon,  the  hearts  of  men  were  following  the 
new  risen  luminary  of  humanity's  God-given  rights. 

And  so,  under  each  special  phase  of  the  conflict,  slavery 
had  against  it  that  dominant  force  which  acts  on  one  side  in 
the  material  progress  of  society,  and  on  the  other  side  in 
the  human  conscience ;  that  force — "  some  call  it  Evolution, 
and  others  call  it  God." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    MEXICAN   WAR 

WE  have  seen  that  about  1832-3  a  new  distinctness  and 
prominence  was  given  to  the  slavery  question  by  various 
events, — the  substantial  victory  of  the  South  Carolina  nul- 
lifiers,  and  the  leadership  thenceforth  of  the  South  by  CaU 
houn;  Nat  Turner's  rising,  and  the  rejection  by  Virginia 
of  the  emancipation  policy;  the  compensated  liberation  of 
the  West  India  slaves  by  the  British  Government;  and  the 
birth  of  aggressive  Abolitionism  under  the  lead  of  Garrison. 
We  have  now  to  glance  at  the  main  course  of  history  for 
the  next  twenty  years.  Party  politics  had  for  a  time  no 
direct  relation  to  slavery.  The  new  organizations  of  Whigs 
and  Democrats  disputed  on  questions  of  a  national  bank,  in 
ternal  improvements,  and  the  tariff.  The  Presidency  was 
easily  won  in  1836  by  Jackson's  lieutenant,  Van  Buren ;  but 
the  commercial  crash  of  1837  produced  a  revulsion  of  feel 
ing  which  enabled  the  Whigs  to  elect  Benjamin  Harrison  in 
1840.  His  early  death  gave  the  Presidency  to  John  Tyler 
of  Virginia,  who  soon  alienated  his  party,  and  who  was  thor 
oughly  Southern  in  his  sympathies  and  policy. 

The  newly  aroused  anti-slavery  enthusiasm  in  the  North 
found  expression  in  petitions  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
the  District  of  Columbia.  It  was  not  intrinsically  a  great 
matter,  but  it  was  the  one  point  where  the  national  author 
ity  seemed  clearly  to  have  a  chance  to  act — questions  of 
new  territory  being  for  the  time  in  abeyance.  Petitions 
poured  in  on  Congress  with  thousands  of  signatures — then 
with  tens,  then  hundreds  of  thousands.  There  was  a  hot 

7i 


72  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

struggle  as  to  whether  the  petitions  should  be  received  at 
all  by  the  Senate  and  House.  John  Quincy  Adams,  willing 
after  his  Presidency  to  serve  in  the  humbler  capacity  of 
congressman,  was  the  champion  of  the  right  of  petition. 
Calhoun  had  entered  the  Senate  in  1832  and  remained  there 
with  a  brief  intermission  until  his  death  in  1850.  He  stood 
independent  of  the  two  great  parties,  with  his  own  State 
always  solidly  behind  him,  and  with  growing  influence  over 
the  whole  South.  He  was  the  leader  in  opposing  the  ad 
mission  of  the  petitions.  He  maintained  that  any  discussion 
in  Congress  of  such  a  topic  was  injurious  and  incendiary; 
he  voiced  the  new  sentiment  of  the  South  that  all  agitation 
of  slavery  was  an  invasion  of  its  rights.  "  Hands  off !  " 
was  the  cry.  The  question  was  settled  in  1836,  after  long 
debates,  by  another  compromise,  proposed  by  James  Bu 
chanan  of  Pennsylvania;  the  petitions  were  given  a  formal 
reception,  but  instantly  rejected  without  debate. 

Another  burning  question  was  the  circulation  of  anti- 
slavery  documents  through  the  Southern  mails.  In  1835  a 
mob  in  Charleston  broke  open  the  post-office,  and  made  a 
bonfire  of  all  such  matter  they  could  find.  The  social  lead 
ers  and  the  clergy  of  the  city  applauded.  The  postmaster- 
general  under  Jackson,  Amos  Kendall,  wrote  to  the  local 
postmaster  who  had  connived  at  the  act :  "  I  cannot  sanc 
tion  and  will  not  condemn  the  step  you  have  taken."  Jack 
son  asked  Congress  to  pass  a  law  excluding  anti-slavery 
literature  from  the  mails.  Even  this  was  not  enough  for 
Calhoun;  he  claimed  that  every  State  had  a  right  to  pass 
such  legislation  for  itself,  with  paramount  authority  over 
any  act  of  Congress.  But  the  South  would  not  support  him 
in  this  claim;  and  indeed  he  was  habitually  in  advance  of 
his  section,  which  followed  him  generally  at  an  interval 
of  a  few  years.  Congress  refused  to  pass  any  law  on  the 
subject.  But  the  end  was  reached  without  law;  Southern 


The  Mexican  War  73 

postmasters  systematically  refused  to  transmit  anti-slavery 
documents — even  of  so  moderate  character  as  the  New  York 
Tribune — and  this  was  their  practice  until  the  Civil  War. 
"  A  gross  infraction  of  law  and  right ! "  said  the  North. 
"  But,"  said  the  South,  "  would  you  allow  papers  to  circu 
late  in  your  postoffices  tending  directly  to  breed  revolt  and 
civil  war?  If  the  mails  cannot  be  used  in  the  service  of 
gambling  and  lotteries,  with  far  more  reason  may  we  shut 
out  incitements  to  insurrection  like  Nat  Turner's." 

On  a  similar  plea  all  freedom  of  speech  in  Southern  com 
munities  on  the  question  of  slavery  was  practically  denied. 
Anti-slavery  men  were  driven  from  their  homes.  In  Ken 
tucky,  one  man  stood  out  defiantly  and  successfully.  Cas- 
sius  M.  Clay  opposed  slavery,  advocated  its  compensated 
abolition,  and  was  as  ready  to  defend  himself  with  pistols  as 
with  arguments.  He  stood  his  ground  to  the  end,  and  in 
1853  he  settled  Rev.  John  G.  Fee  at  Berea,  who  established 
a  group  of  anti-slavery  churches  and  schools,  which  was 
broken  up  after  John  Brown's  raid,  but  after  the  war  was 
revived  as  Berea  College.  But  as  a  rule  free  speech  in  the 
South  was  at  an  end  before  1840.  No  man  dared  use  lan 
guage  like  that  of  Patrick  Henry  and  Madison ;  and  Jef 
ferson's  Notes  on  Virginia,  if  newly  published,  would 
have  been  excluded  from  the  mails  and  its  author  exiled. 

South  Carolina  passed  a  law  under  which  negro  seamen 
on  ships  entering  her  ports  were  put  in  jail  while  their 
vessel  remained,  and  if  the  jail  fees  were  not  paid,  they 
were  sold  into  slavery.  When  Massachusetts  seamen  suf 
fered  under  this  law,  the  State  government  in  1844  dis 
patched  an  eminent  citizen,  Samuel  Hoar,  to  try  to  secure 
a  modification  of  the  enactment.  Arriving  in  Charleston, 
accompanied  by  his  daughter,  Mr.  Hoar  was  promptly  vis 
ited  in  his  hotel  by  a  committee  of  prominent  men  and 
obliged  to  leave  the  city  and  State  at  once. 


74  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

The  North  had  its  share  of  violence.  In  Connecticut  a 
school  for  negro  children,  kept  by  two  white  women,  was 
forcibly  broken  up.  In  Illinois  in  1837  an  anti-slavery 
newspaper  office  was  destroyed  by  a  mob,  and  its  proprietor, 
Elijah  P.  Lovejoy,  was  murdered. 

In  the  Presidential  election  of  1840  slavery  was  almost 
forgotten.  The  Whigs  were  bent  on  overthrowing  the  Dem 
ocratic  administration,  to  which  they  attributed  the  hard 
times  following  1837;  and  they  raised  a  popular  hurrah  for 
the  candidate  of  the  "  plain  people,"  William  Henry  Har 
rison  of  Indiana,  who  had  won  a  victory  over  the  Indians 
at  Tippecanoe.  In  a  canvass  where  "  log-cabins "  and 
"  hard  cider  "  gave  the  watchwords  and  emblems,  national 
politics  played  little  part.  But  now  first  those  resolute  anti- 
slavery  men  who  were  determined  to  bring  their  cause  be 
fore  the  people  as  a  political  issue,  and  fight  it  out  in  that 
arena,  with  solid  ranks  be  their  forces  ever  so  small, — came 
together  and  nominated  for  the  Presidency  James  G.  Bir- 
ney.  They  could  give  him  but  a  handful  of  votes,  but  it 
was  the  raising  of  a  flag  which  twenty  years  was  to  carry  to 
victory.  Birney,  never  an  extremist,  had  grown  to  a  full 
recognition  of  all  that  was  at  stake.  He  wrote  in  1835: 
:<  The  contest  is  becoming — has  become — not  one  alone  of 
freedom  for  the  blacks,  but  of  freedom  for  the  whites. 
.  .  .  There  will  be  no  cessation  of  the  strife  until  slavery 
shall  be  exterminated  or  liberty  destroyed." 

For  a  dozen  years  there  had  been  only  skirmishing.  Now 
came  on  a  battle  royal,  or  rather  a  campaign,  from  1844  to 
1850, — the  annexation  of  Texas,  the  war  with  Mexico,  and 
the  last  great  compromise.  Texas,  a  province  of  Mexico 
after  Mexico  became  free  from  Spain,  received  a  steady  im 
migration  from  the  American  Southwestern  States.  These 
immigrants  became  restive  under  Mexican  control,  declared 
their  independence  in  1835,  and  practically  secured  it  after 


The  Mexican  War  75 

sharp  fighting.  Slavery,  abolished  under  Mexico,  was  re 
established  by  the  republic  of  Texas.  From  the  character 
of  its  population,  it  seemed  to  gravitate  toward  the  United 
States.  The  keen  eyes  of  the  Southern  leaders  were  early 
fixed  upon  it.  Annex  Texas,  and  a  great  field  of  expan 
sion  for  slavery  was  open.  Its  votes  in  the  Senate  and 
House  would  be  added  to  the  Southern  column,  and  from 
its  immense  domain  future  States  might  be  carved.  As 
early  as  1829  Lundy's  and  Garrison's  Genius  had  pro 
tested  against  this  scheme.  The  time  was  now  ripe  for  car 
rying  it  out.  Calhoun  was  again  the  leader.  He  claimed 
to  be  "the  author  of  annexation,"  and  with  good  reason. 
He  exchanged  the  Senate  for  Tyler's  cabinet  as  Secretary 
of  War  in  1844,  the  change  being  engineered  by  Henry  A. 
Wise,  one  of  the  rising  men  in  Virginia, — for  the  express 
purpose  of  bringing  in  Texas.  A  treaty  of  annexation  was 
negotiated  with  Texas,  and  sent  to  the  Senate.  There  were 
difficulties;  the  Texans  had  cooled  in  their  zeal  for  annex 
ation;  and  the  American  Senate  was  not  over-favorable. 
To  give  the  necessary  impetus,  Calhoun, — so  says  Van  Hoist, 
in  his  excellent  and  not  unfriendly  biography, — fell  below 
his  habitual  sincerity,  and  misrepresented  a  dispatch  of  the 
English  Foreign  Secretary,  Lord  Aberdeen,  as  showing  a 
disposition  on  England's  part  to  get  hold  of  Texas  for  her 
self.  It  was  a  Presidential  year;  the  Democratic  conven 
tion  nominated  James  K.  Polk  of  Tennessee,  and  passed  a 
resolution  favoring  annexation.  But  Calhoun  had  now 
shown  his  motive  so  plainly  that  the  country  took  alarm, 
and  the  Senate  rejected  the  treaty.  The  Whigs  nominated 
Clay.  He  was  believed  to  be  opposed  to  the  annexation 
scheme,  but  his  hunger  for  the  great  prize  betrayed  him 
into  an  equivocal  expression,  which  lost  him  the  confidence 
of  the  strong  anti-slavery  men.  Again  they  nominated  Bir- 
ney, — taking  now  the  name  of  the  Liberty  party — and  gave 


76  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

him  so  many  votes  that  the  result  was  to  lose  New  York 
and  Michigan  for  Clay,  and  Polk  was  elected.  The  admin 
istration  now  claimed — though  in  truth  the  combined  Whig 
and  Liberty  vote  put  it  in  a  minority — that  it  had  received 
a  plebiscite  of  popular  support  on  its  annexation  policy. 
Thus  emboldened,  its  friends, — knowing  that  they  could  not 
yet  count  on  the  two-thirds  vote  necessary  for  a  senatorial 
confirmation, — dropped  the  treaty  altogether,  and  brought 
into  Congress  a  joint  resolution  affirming  the  annexation 
of  Texas  to  the  Union.  This  won  the  necessary  majority 
in  both  houses,  and  as  the  last  act  of  Tyler's  administration 
Texas  was  declared  a  State. 

Calhoun  now  returned  to  the  Senate, — his  temporary 
substitute  promptly  vacating  at  his  word.  Thus  far  he  had 
triumphed.  But  his  associates  in  their  elation  were  eager 
for  another  conquest.  Texas  is  ours,  now  let  us  have  Cali 
fornia  and  the  Pacific !  But  to  that  end,  Mexico,  reluctant 
to  yield  Texas,  and  wholly  unwilling  to  cede  more  terri 
tory,  must  be  attacked  and  despoiled.  At  that  proposal 
Calhoun  drew  back.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  had  any 
scruples  about  Mexico.  But,  keener-sighted  than  his  fol 
lowers,  he  knew  that  any  further  acquisitions  to  the  West 
would  be  stoutly  and  hopefully  claimed  by  the  North.  His 
warning  was  in  vain;  he  had  lighted  a  fire  and  now  could 
not  check  it.  The  next  step  was  to  force  Mexico  into  a  war. 
She  claimed  the  river  Nueces  as  her  boundary  with  Texas, 
while  Texas  claimed  the  Rio  Grande.  Instructions  were 
quietly  given  to  General  Taylor,  in  January,  1846,  to  throw 
his  small  force  into  the  disputed  territory,  so  near  the  Rio 
Grande  as  to  invite  a  Mexican  attack.  The  Mexican  force 
did  attack  him,  and  President  Polk  instantly  declared  that 
"  war  existed  by  the  act  of  Mexico  " — thus  allowing  Con 
gress  no  chance  to  pass  on  it.  As  is  the  way  of  nations, 
fighting  once  begun,  every  consideration  of  justice  was  ig- 


The  Mexican  War  77 

nored  and  the  only  word  was  "  our  country,  right  or 
wrong."  Congressmen  of  both  parties  voted  whatever  sup 
plies  were  needed  for  the  war;  and  the  Whigs,  trying  to 
throw  the  blame  on  the  President,  put  no  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  his  conquest  of  Mexico.  Only  one  man  in  Congress 
spoke  out  for  justice  as  higher  than  party  or  country. 
Thomas  Corwin  of  Ohio,  in  a  powerful  speech,  denounced 
the  whole  iniquitous  business,  and  declared  that  were  he  a 
Mexican  facing  the  American  invaders  of  his  home,  "  I 
would  welcome  them  with  hospitable  hands  to  bloody 
graves ! " 

The  war  called  out  another  voice  that  went  home  to  the 
heart  of  the  people, — the  voice  of  James  Russell  Lowell  in 
the  "  Biglow  Papers."  In  the  homely  Yankee  vernacular 
he  spoke  for  the  highest  conscience  of  New  England.  The 
righteous  wrath  was  winged  with  stinging  wit  and  light 
ened  with  broad  humor.  He  spoke  for  that  sentiment  of 
the  new  and  nobler  America  which  abhorred  slavery  and 
detested  war,  and  saw  in  a  war  for  the  extension  of  slavery 
a  crime  against  God  and  man.  The  politician's  sophistries, 
the  respectable  conventionalities  current  in  church  and  state, 
found  no  mercy  at  his  hands : 

Ez  fer  war,  I  call  it  murder, — 

There  you  hev  it  plain  and  flat: 
I  don't  want  to  go  no  furder 

Than  my  Testyment  fer  that : 
God  hez  sed  so  plump  an'  fairly, 

It's  ez  long  ez  it  is  broad, 
An'  you've  got  to  git  up  airly 

Ef  you  want  to  take  in  God. 

'Tain't  your  eppyletts  an'  feathers 

Make  the  thing  a  grain  more  right; 

'Tain't   a   follerin'   your   bell-wethers 
Will  excuse  ye  in  his  sight; 


78  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

Ef  you  take  a  sword  and  draw  it, 
An'  go  stick  a  feller  thru, 

Guv'ment  ain't  to  answer  for  it, 
God'll  send  the  bill  to  you. 

Massachusetts,  God  forgive  her, 
She's  a  kneelin'  with  the  rest, 

She,  that  ought  to  hav'  clung  forever 
In  her  grand  old  eagle-nest. 

Let  our  dear  old  Bay  State  proudly 
Put  the  trumpet  to  her  mouth, 

Let  her  ring  this  messidge  loudly 
In  the  ears  of  all  the  South: 

"  I'll  return  ye  good   fer  evil 

Much  ez  we  frail  mortals  can, 
But  I  won't  go  help  the  Devil 

Makin'  man  the  cus  o'  man; 
Call  me  coward,  call  me  traitor, 

Jest  ez  suits  your  mean  idees, 
Here  I  stand  a  tyrant-hater, 

An'  the  friend  o'  God  and  Peace." 


CHAPTER    IX 

HOW  DEAL  WITH  THE  TERRITORIES? 

MEANWHILE,  the  American  army, — accepting  as  its  sole 
part  to  obey  orders,  not  questioning  why, — though  such 
officers  as  Grant  and  Lee  had  no  liking  for  the  task  set 
them, — and  reinforced  by  volunteer  regiments  from  the 
Southwest, — was  steadily  fighting  its  way  to  the  Mexican 
capital;  Taylor's  force  advancing  from  Texas,  while  Scott 
moved  from  Vera  Cruz.  The  Mexicans  resisted  bravely, 
but  were  beaten  again  and  again,  and  upon  the  capture  of 
the  city  of  Mexico  they  gave  up  the  contest. 

Spite  of  the  eclat  of  victories,  the  war  had  been  so  little 
popular  in  the  North  that  the  congressional  election  of  1846 
displaced  the  administration  majority  in  the  House  and 
gave  the  Whigs  a  preponderance.  But,  with  the  excite 
ment  of  the  complete  victory  over  Mexico  in  the  next  year, 
came  a  fresh  wave  of  the  aggressive  temper.  It  was  freely 
advocated  that  Mexico  should  be  annexed  bodily.  Against 
this  madness  Henry  Clay  spoke  out  with  his  old-time  power. 
Clearly  the  country  would  tolerate  no  such  extreme,  and  the 
annexationists  contented  themselves  with  mulcting  Mexico, 
upon  the  payment  of  $6,000,000,  of  the  vast  territory  known 
as  California. 

Then  set  in  with  full  vigor  the  controversy  over  the  new 
territory  which  Calhoun  had  foreseen.  Calhoun  had  been 
left  in  a  sort  of  isolation  by  his  defection  from  the  admin 
istration  upon  the  war,  but  he  did  not  break  with  President 
Polk;  for  the  reason,  says  Von  Hoist,  that  he  wanted  to 
save  his  influence  to  oppose  the  tendency  to  a  war  with 

79 


/So  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 


.England.  Oregon  had  been  held  in  joint  occupancy  by  the 
two  nations  for  many  years;  now  a  line  of  demarcation 
was  to  be  drawn,  and  there  was  a  loud  popular  demand  for 
maintaining  at  any  cost  the  extreme  northern  line  of  lati 
tude  —  it  was  "  Fifty-four-forty  or  fight."  But  the  sense 
,  of  the  country  was  against  coming  to  extremities,  and  Cal- 
houn  —  a  statesman  when  slavery  was  not  concerned  —  threw 
his  influence  with  the  moderate  sentiment  which  secured 
the  acceptance  of  the  line  of  49  degrees.  But  he  looked 
with  foreboding  eyes  on  the  deepening  conflict  of  the  sec 
tions  and  the  advantage  which  gravitated  toward  the  North  ; 
—  from  political  causes,  he  declared,  unwilling  or  unable  to 
recognize  that  the  industrial  superiority  lay  inevitably  with 
free  labor.  He  met  the  danger  with  a  bolder  and  more  ad 
vanced  claim.  The  South,  he  declared,  had  had  enough  of 
compromise  over  territory;  it  must  now  fall  back  on  its 
ultimate  right  under  the  Constitution;  and  that  right  was 
that  slaves,  being  lawful  property,  might  be  taken  into  any 
territory  of  the  United  States,  and  Congress  had  no  right 
to  forbid  their  introduction;  neither  had  Congress  a  right 
to  refuse  admission  of  any  State  whose  people  desired  to 
retain  slavery.  This  was  a  claim  for  the  nationalization  of 
slavery  ;  and  it  was  not  until  after  Calhoun's  death  that  the 
South  came  to  this  position,  staked  its  cause  upon  it,  and 
when  it  was  rejected  by  the  popular  vote  broke  with  the 
Union. 

But  Calhoun's  logic  and  passion  had  not  yet  brought  his 
section  up  to  his  own  position,  and  over  the  division  of  the 
newly  acquired  territory  North  and  South  disputed  as  be 
fore.  While  the  war  was  still  waging,  President  Polk  asked 
for  an  appropriation  to  be  expended  as  compensation  for 
new  territory;  and  David  Wilmot,  a  Democratic  member 
from  Pennsylvania,  moved  that  a  proviso  be  added,  stipu 
lating  that  from  any  new  territory  acquired  by  purchase 


How  Deal  with  the  Territories?         81 

slavery  should  be  excluded.  This  was  passed  by  the  House, 
but  rejected  by  the  Senate.  The  Senate  was  long  the  strong 
hold  of  the  South,  the  States  having  an  equal  representa 
tion,  while  in  the  House  the  greater  increase  of  free  State 
population  gave  them  a  fresh  advantage  at  each  new  census 
and  apportionment.  The  "  Wilmot  proviso  "  was  for  some 
years  the  watchword  of  the  anti-extensionists.  To  the  typ 
ical  Northerner,  it  seemed  monstrous  that  slavery  should  be 
introduced  by  law  in  territory  where  it  had  no  previous  ex 
istence.  To  the  typical  Southerner  it  seemed  no  less  unjust 
that  his  peculiar  institutions  and  usages  should  be  excluded 
from  the  common  domain,  for  which  his  section  had  paid 
its  share  of  money  and  more  than  its  share  of  blood. 

iWhile  the  question  of  the  new  territory  had  scarcely 
taken  definite  form,  there  came  the  Presidential  election  of 
1848.  In  the  Whig  convention  Clay's  ambition  received  its 
final  disappointment;  Webster  had  hardly  a  chance;  all  the 
statesmen  of  the  party  were  set  aside  in  favor  of  General 
Zachary  Taylor  of  Louisiana,  an  upright,  soldierly  man,  a 
slaveholder,  entirely  unversed  in  civil  affairs,  and  his  claim 
resting  solely  on  successful  generalship  in  the  war.  The 
Democrats  nominated  Lewis  Cass  of  Michigan,  a  mediocre 
politician,  regarded  by  the  South  as  a  trustworthy  servant. 
The  third  party  displayed  new  strength,  and  exchanged  the 
name  of  "  Liberty  "  for  "  Free  Soil."  Under  the  stimulus 
of  recent  events  recruits  of  power  and  promise  came  to  its 
standard.  In  Massachusetts  it  gained  such  men  as  Samuel 
Hoar,  Charles  Sumner,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  and  Henry 
Wilson  from  the  Whigs;  and  from  the  Democrats,  Robert 
Rantoul  and  N.  P.  Banks.  Wilson  and  Charles  Allen,  dele 
gates  to  the  Whig  convention,  declared, — when  that  body 
in  its  resolutions  absolutely  ignored  the  question  of  slavery 
extension,  and  sank  all  principles  in  a  hurrah  for  "  Old 
Rough  and  Ready," — that  they  would  no  longer  support 


82  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  party.  They  went  home  to  work  with  their  old  friends, 
the  "  Conscience  Whigs/'  for  the  success  of  the  Free  Soil 
party,  whose  convention  was  to  meet  at  Buffalo.  To  that 
convention  came  strong  allies  from  Ohio.  There  were 
Joshua  Giddings,  for  years  one  of  the  few  congressmen 
classed  distinctly  as  anti-slavery,  and  Salmon  P.  Chase. 
New  York  State  offered  a  reinforcement  strong  in  numbers, 
but  in  some  respects  questionable.  The  anti-slavery  Demo 
crats  in  the  State,  nicknamed  "  Barnburners  " — because 
"  they  would  burn  the  barn  to  get  rid  of  the  rats  " — were 
ready  to  break  with  their  party,  but  their  quarrel  was  partly 
a  personal  one.  They  were  welcomed,  however,  and  from 
their  ranks  was  selected  the  Presidential  candidate — of  all 
men,  ex- President  Martin  Van  Buren,  known  of  old  as  "  the 
Northern  man  with  Southern  principles,"  but  willing  now 
to  Northernize  his  principles  with  the  Presidency  in  view. 
Such  a  nomination  went  far  to  take  the  heart  out  of  the 
genuine  anti-slavery  men;  and  the  strong  name  of  Charles 
Francis  Adams  for  vice-president  could  not  make  good  the 
weakness  of  the  head  of  the  ticket.  Should  a  real  Free 
Soiler  vote  for  Van  Buren, — the  probable  effect  being  to 
improve  Cass's  chances  over  Taylor,  just  as  the  Birney 
vote  four  years  earlier  had  beaten  Clay  and  brought  in  Polk 
and  all  his  consequences — or  vote  for  Taylor,  trusting  to 
his  personal  character  and  the  influences  surrounding  him 
for  a  practical  advantage  to  the  side  of  freedom?  The  lat 
ter  alternative  was  the  choice  of  many,  including  Horace 
Greeley  and  his  associates,  Thurlow  Weed  and  William 
H.  Seward.  With  such  help,  and  mainly  on  his  strength  as 
a  military  hero,  Taylor  was  elected.  In  the  result  there 
was  considerable  hope  for  the  anti-slavery  cause.  For  Sew 
ard,  who  had  been  chosen  to  the  Senate  from  New  York, 
was  very  influential  with  the  new  President,  and  Seward 
was  one  of  the  coming  men,  clearly  destined  to  be  a  leader 


How  Deal  with  the  Territories?         83 

among  those  who  were  to  succeed  the  great  triumvirate  of 
Clay,  Calhoun,  and  Webster.  He  was  high-minded,  culti 
vated,  and  united  lofty  ideals  with  practical  wisdom.  A 
thorough  constitutionalist,  he  believed  there  were  legitimate 
ways  of  advancing  freedom  under  the  Constitution ;  and  in  a 
speech  at  Cleveland  he  had  declared :  "  Slavery  can  be  lim 
ited  to  its  present  bounds;  it  can  be  ameliorated;  it  can  be 
abolished ;  and  you  and  I  must  do  it."  Ohio  sent  to  the 
Senate  another  of  the  coming  men,  Salmon  P.  Chase,  re 
sembling  Seward  in  his  broad  and  philosophical  views  and 
his  firm  but  constitutional  opposition  to  slavery. 


1 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   COMPROMISE   OF   1850 

To  win  California  as  slave  territory  the  Southern  leaders 
had  forced  the  war  on  Mexico.  The  territory  was  won,  and 
no  political  force  had  developed  strong  enough  to  halt  their 
progress.  But  now  came  a  check  from  the  realm  which 
could  not  be  cajoled  or  brow-beaten, — the  world  of  natural 
and  industrial  forces.  Gold  was  discovered  in  California. 
There  was  a  rush  of  immigrants,  and  a  swift  opening  and 
settlement  of  the  country.  The  pioneers — hardy,  enterpris 
ing  and  democratic — had  no  use  nor  room  for  slaves.  They 
held  a  convention,  with  the  encouragement  of  President 
Taylor;  framed  a  Constitution  in  which  slavery  was  ex- 
1  eluded  from  the  future  State — this  by  unanimous  vote,  in- 
\  eluding  the  15  delegates  who  had  come  from  slave  States; 
and  the  popular  vote  ratified  the  proposed  Constitution  by 
10  to  I.  Then  they  asked  for  admission  to  the  Union. 

The  Southern  faction  was  wrathful.  The  extremists  were 
for  excluding  the  new  State  unless  slavery  was  permitted. 
But  it  was  clear  that  slavery  could  not  be  forced  on  a 
State  against  the  wish  of  its  entire  people.  Then  compen 
sation  was  sought  in  concessions  to  be  made  by  the  North. 
The  remainder  of  the  new  domain,  Utah  and  New  Mexico, 
was  not  ripe  for  Statehood;  but  let  slavery,  it  was  urged,  be 
established  as  a  territorial  condition.  Then  came  up  another 
grievance  of  the  South.  Its  fugitive  slaves,  escaping  over 
the  border  line,  were  systematically  helped,  either  to  make 
their  way  to  Canada  and  the  protection  of  the  British  flag, 
or  to  safe  homes  in  the  Northern  States.  Naturally  the  slaves 


The  Compromise  of  1850  85 

who  dared  the  perils  of  escape  were  either  the  most  ener 
getic  or  the  most  wronged,  and  sympathy  for  them  at  the 
North  was  active  and  resourceful.  Along  their  most  fre 
quented  routes  of  flight  were  systematic  provisions  of  shel 
ter  and  help,  known  as  "  the  underground  railroad."  The  \ 
Federal  Constitution  required  their  return,  but  this  task  had  I 
been  left  to  State  laws  and  courts,  and  was  performed 
slackly,  if  at  all.  The  total  number  of  fugitives  was  not 
large  nor  the  pecuniary  loss  heavy,  but  the  South  was  exas 
perated  by  what  it  considered  a  petty  and  contemptible  dep 
redation.  So  there  was  a  demand  that  the  Federal  govern 
ment  should  undertake  and  enforce  the  return  of  fugitive 
slaves. 

Congress  opened  the  session  of  1849-50  amid  great  ex 
citement  and  confusion.  Once  more  Clay  came  forward  to 
reconcile  the  disputants.  Clay  in  these  last  days  was  at  his 
best.  He  was  no  longer  swayed  by  Presidential  aspirations. 
When  in  1849  tne  Kentucky  Constitution  was  to  be  revised, 
he  wrote  a  letter  strongly  favoring  a  gradual  emancipation 
and  colonization.  This  had  no  effect,  but  Clay's  unshaken 
hold  on  his  State  was  shown  by  his  unanimous  re-election 
to  the  Senate.  There  he  at  once  entered  upon  his  last  great  I 
effort  at  national  reconciliation.  He  introduced  a  bill  provid- 
ing  for  a  series  of  concessions  on  both  sides.  California 
was  to  be  admitted  as  a  free  State;  and  New  Mexico  and 
Utah  wrere  to  be  organized  as  territories,  leaving  the  ques 
tion  of  slavery  for  future  settlement.  Slavery  was  to  con 
tinue  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  but  the  slave  trade  was  to 
be  forbidden  there.  Texas  was  to  cede  to  New  Mexico  a 
disputed  strip  of  territory,  which  presumably  would  ulti 
mately  become  free ;  and  was  to  be  compensated  by  a  large 
grant  from  the  Federal  territory.  A  law  was  to  be  passed 
for  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves  by  Federal  authority. 

Over  these  measures  the  debate  was  long  and  hot.    Clay 


86  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

pleaded  that  by  his  scheme  the  advantages  were  fairly  bal 
anced  between  North  and  South.  He  urged  that  the  rising 
spirit  of  disunion  at  the  South  should  be  disarmed  by  rea 
sonable  concessions.  He  appealed  to  the  North  for  con 
cessions  and  to  the  South  for  peace.  When  Jefferson  Davis, 
Senator  from  Mississippi,  declared  that  the  plan  conceded 
nothing  to  the  South,  and  demanded  that  the  Missouri  com 
promise  line  be  extended  to  the  Pacific  (bisecting  Califor 
nia),  with  the  express  establishment  of  slavery  south  of  that 
line,  Clay  declared  that  no  earthly  power  should  make  him 
vote  for  the  establishment  of  slavery  anywhere  where  it  had 
had  no  previous  existence.  To  do  so,  he  said,  would  be  to 
incur  from  future  inhabitants  of  New  Mexico  the  reproach 
which  Americans  justly  applied  to  their  British  ancestors 
for  fastening  the  institution  on  them.  But  he  would  spare 
Southern  sensibilities  by  withholding  an  explicit  exclusion 
of  slavery  from  New  Mexico ;  Nature  and  the  future  would 
attend  to  that.  Against  any  right  of  secession,  against 
any  possibility  of  peaceful  secession,  he  declared  with 
strongest  emphasis :  "  War  and  dissolution  of  the  Union 
are  identical;  they  are  convertible  terms;  and  such  a 
war !  "  Fighting  for  the  extension  of  slavery,  the  sympa 
thies  of  all  mankind  would  be  against  the  South. 

The  venerable  old  man,  speaking  with  all  the  sincerity 
and  warmth  of  his  heart  and  with  all  the  powers  of  his  mind, 
was  heard,  says  Schurz,  by  a  great  and  brilliant  audience. 
His  first  faltering  words  were  followed  by  regained  power; 
the  old  elevation  of  sentiment,  the  sonorous  flow  of  words, 
the  lofty  energy  of  action,  were  enhanced  by  the  pathetic 
sense  that  this  was  the  final  effort. 

More  pathetic,  tragic  even,  was  the  last  speech  of  Cal- 
houn,  read  for  him  while  he  sat  in  his  senatorial  chair ;  the 
tall  form  bowed  by  age  and  weakness,  the  gaunt,  impressive 
i'ace  furrowed  by  the  long  strife  for  a  doomed  cause,  but 


The  Compromise  of  1850  87 

the  old  fire  still  alight  in  the  dark  eyes  and  in  the  resolute 
spirit.  He  recognized  that  the  strife  of  the  sections  was 
radical,  and  that  the  proposed  compromises  and  palliatives 
were  weak  and  temporary.  He  declared  that  the  South  had 
been  thwarted  in  its  rights  from  the  ordinance  of  1787  until 
now;  that  the  equilibrium  would  be  destroyed  past  hope  if 
California  and  New  Mexico  were  to  become  free  States ;  and 
that  the  only  effective  resource  lay  in  some  constitutional 
amendment  to  safeguard  the  rights  of  the  South.  What 
amendment  could  effect  this,  he  did  not  say.  But  it  trans 
pired  later  that  he  had  in  mind  the  election  of  two  Presi 
dents,  one  from  each  section, — a  fantastic  and  impossible 
scheme.  In  truth,  Calhoun  in  this  last  utterance  was  less  a 
statesman  aiming  to  guide  events  than  a  prophet  predicting 
an  inevitable  woe.  He  was  too  wise  to  share  the  elation 
with  which  hot-heads  talked  of  an  independent  South,  and 
it  was  with  sad  forebodings  that  he  sank  to  his  grave. 

When  on  the  7th  of  March  Webster  rose  to  speak, 
the  Senate  and  the  country  hung  on  his  words.  He  too  was 
drawing  toward  the  end,  but  his  powers  were  unabated. 
Hope  was  strong  that  in  him  would  be  found  the  champion 
of  freedom.  But  the  key  of  his  speech  was  a  view  of  the 
situation,  not  as  a  contest  between  freedom  and  slavery, 
but  as  an  opposition  of  geographical  sections,  inflamed  by 
extremists  on  both  sides.  The  mischief,  he  declared,  was  due 
to  Southern  disunionists  and  Northern  Abolitionists.  The 
remedy  was  a  calm,  patriotic  temper;  the  rebuke  of  fanati 
cism  of  both  kinds,  and  the  acceptance  of  reasonable  accom 
modations  and  adjustments.  He  approved  substantially  the 
scheme  proposed  by  Clay.  The  formal  exclusion  of  slavery 
from  New  Mexico  was  an  unnecessary  affront  to  the  South ; 
natural  conditions  would  prevent  slavery  there.  A  fugi 
tive  slave  law  was  fairly  required  by  the  Constitution  and 
the  South  had  a  right  to  claim  it.  He,  like  Clay,  declared 


88  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

peaceable  secession  an  impossibility,  and  his  speech,  im 
pressive  throughout  by  the  power  of  a  lucid  and  massive 
intellect,  rose  at  its  close  to  lofty  eloquence  in  a  plea  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  Union  and  a  warning  of  the  catas 
trophe  which  secession  would  precipitate. 

The  defect  of  the  speech  was  its  complete  failure  to  rec 
ognize  the  wrong  and  mischief  of  slavery.  Webster  had 
rarely  shown  himself  a  moral  idealist,  except  as  to  the  sen 
timent  of  patriotism.  He  was  identified  with  the  prosperous 
and  "  respectable  "  classes,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  poor 
and  oppressed  woke  little  sympathy  in  him.  These  limita 
tions  had  always  been  apparent,  and  while  Clay  seemed  to 
grow  finer  and  gentler  with  advance  of  years,  Webster's 
course  was  the  other  way.  That  imperial  and  commanding 
presence,  with  its  imposing  stature  and  Jove-like  visage, 
was  the  tenement  of  a  richly  dowered  nature.  He  had  not 
only  great  powers  of  intellect,  but  warm  affections,  gener 
ous  sentiments,  and  wholesome  tastes  for  humanity  and 
the  outdoor  world,  but  his  moral  fiber,  never  of  the  stanch- 
est  grain,  had  been  sapped  by  prosperity.  He  was  self- 
indulgent  in  his  personal  habits  and  heedless  of  homely 
obligations.  His  ambition  was  strong,  and  as  the  favor 
of  the  South  had  come  to  be  the  almost  necessary  condition 
of  the  Presidency,  he  could  not  escape  the  suspicion  of 
courting  that  favor.  He  was  in  substantial  agreement  with 
Clay  as  to  the  compromise  measures,  but  the  Kentuckian 
rose  higher  than  his  section  and  his  look  was  forward; 
while  Webster  was  distinctly  below  the  characteristic  tem 
per  of  New  England,  and  his  movement  was  retrograde. 
The  anti-slavery  men  mourned  his  7th  of  March  speech  as 
a  great  apostasy,  and  Whittier  branded  it  in  his  poem  of 
"  Ichabod,"  which  fell  with  Judgment-day  weight.  Yet  it 
was  not  an  apostasy,  but  the  natural  culmination  of  his 
course ;  and  in  spite  of  its  error,  he  still  was  true  to  the  char- 


The  Compromise  of  1850  89 

acteristic  sentiment  of  his  best  period,  the  love  of  the  Union. 
His  voice  like  Clay's  gave  inspiration — it  may  well  have 
been  a  decisive  inspiration — to  the  cause  which  triumphed 
at  Gettysburg  and  Appomattox.  Whittier  himself,  in  a 
later  poem,  recognized  the  patriotic  service  of  the  man 
whom,  in  the  heat  of  conflict,  he  had  so  scathingly 
denounced. 

Congress,  and  especially  the  Senate,  was  at  this  time  full 
of  brilliant  men.  Among  the  leaders  of  the  extreme  South 
were  Mason  of  Virginia,  Butler  of  South  Carolina,  Davis 
of  Mississippi,  and  Soule  of  Louisiana.  From  this  element 
came  plentiful  threats  of  disunion.  But  these  threats  were 
met  with  stern  answers.  When  President  Taylor  heard  of 
them  the  stout  old  soldier  answered  that  such  language  was 
treasonable,  and  if  necessary  he  would  himself  take  com 
mand  of  the  army  that  should  put  down  rebellion.  Dis 
union,  he  said,  is  treason;  and  to  one  questioning  him,  he 
answered  with  a  soldier's  oath  that  if  anyone  really  at 
tempted  to  carry  it  out,  they  should  be  dealt  with  by  law  as 
they  deserved,  and  executed.  Clay's  language  was  no  less 
explicit.  When  Senator  Rhett  in  Charleston  proposed  to 
raise  the  flag  of  secession,  and  his  colleague,  Barnwell  in 
the  Senate,  half  indorsed  his  words,  Clay  said,  with  a  light 
ning  flash  that  thrilled  the  audience,  that  if  Senator  Rhett 
followed  up  that  declaration  by  overt  acts  "  he  will  be  a 
traitor,  and  I  hope  he  will  meet  the  fate  of  a  traitor ! " 
Clay  went  on  to  say  that  if  Kentucky  should  ever  unfurl  the 
banner  of  resistance  unjustly  against  the  Union,  "  never, 
never  will  I  engage  with  her  in  such  a  cause !  " 

There  was  in  Congress  a  new  element,  of  the  smallest  in 
numbers,  but  with  the  promise  and  potency  of  a  great  future. 
Four  days  after  Webster,  Seward  spoke  in  the  Senate.  He 
advocated  the  admission  of  California  as  a  free  State,  with 
no  additions  or  compromises.  No  equilibrium  between  free- 


90  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

dom  and  slavery  was  possible ;  if  established  to-day  it  would 
be  destroyed  to-morrow.  The  moral  sentiment  of  the  age 
would  never  permit  the  enforcement  of  a  law  requiring 
Northern  freemen  to  return  slaves  to  bondage.  The  entire 
public  domain  was  by  the  Constitution  devoted  to  union, 
justice,  defense,  welfare,  and  liberty;  and  it  was  devoted 
to  the  same  noble  ends  by  "  a  higher  law  than  the  Constitu 
tion."  The  extension  of  slavery  ought  to  be  barred  by  all 
legal  means.  Threats  of  disunion  had  no  terrors  for  him. 
The  question  was  "  whether  the  Union  shall  stand,  and 
slavery,  under  the  steady,  peaceful  action  of  moral,  social, 
and  political  causes,  be  removed  by  gradual  voluntary  effort 
and  with  compensation ;  or  whether  the  Union  shall  be  dis 
solved  and  civil  war  ensue,  bringing  on  violent  but  com 
plete  and  immediate  emancipation." 

Salmon  P.  Chase  of  Ohio  spoke  to  similar  effect.  If,  he 
said,  the  claims  of  freedom  are  sacrificed  here  by  forms  of 
legislation,  "  the  people  will  unsettle  your  settlement."  "  It 
may  be  that  you  will  succeed  in  burying  the  ordinance  of 
freedom.  But  the  people  will  write  upon  its  tomb,  '  I  shall 
rise  again/  " 

The  disunionists  found  that  they  had  little  popular  sup 
port  behind  them.  A  convention  at  Nashville,  held  to  pro 
mote  the  interests  of  the  South,  refused  to  countenance  any 
extreme  measures.  General  Taylor  steadily  favored  the 
admission  of  California  as  a  free  State,  with  no  qualifica 
tions  or  accompaniments.  Then,  while  the  result  in  Con 
gress  hung  doubtful,  in  the  summer  of  1850,  President  Tay 
lor  died.  His  successor,  Vice-President  Millard  Fillmore 
of  New  York,  was  a  man  of  fair  ability  and  cautious  or 
timid  disposition;  an  opponent  of  Seward  in  the  politics  of 
their  State.  He  favored  the  compromise,  and  called  Web 
ster  to  his  cabinet.  The  administration's  influence  seemed 
to  turn  the  scale,  and  Clay's  series  of  measures  were  adopted 


The  Compromise  of  1850  91 

one  by  one.  There  was  dissatisfaction  at  the  South  and  in 
dignation  at  the  North.  The  territorial  settlement  was  sub 
stantially  in  the  North's  favor.  But  the  exasperating  fact, 
and  pregnant  with  consequences,  was  the  Fugitive  Slave  law. 
Its  provisions  were  intolerable  to  the  popular  conscience.  All 
citizens  were  liable  to  be  called  to  aid  in  the  pursuit  and  J 
arrest  of  a  fugitive.  He  was  to  be  tried  before  a  United 
States  commissioner,  whose  decision  was  final.  A  man  ac 
cused  of  a  crime  punishable  by  a  small  fine  or  a  brief  im 
prisonment  was  entitled  to  a  verdict  from  an  impartial  jury 
of  twelve;  but  a  man  whose  freedom  for  life  was  at  stake 
was  at  the  mercy  of  a  single  official. 

Most  of  the  Northern  States  sooner  or  later  passed  "  Per 
sonal  Liberty  laws,"  which,  without  directly  assuming  to 
nullify  the  Federal  statute,  aimed  to  defeat  its  enforce 
ment.  They  contained  such  provisions  as  the  exemption 
of  State  officials  and  State  buildings  from  service  in  the 
rendition  of  fugitives,  and  the  right  of  alleged  fugitives 
to  be  taken  by  habeas  corpus  before  a  State  tribunal.  So 
against  the  charge  of  inhumanity  in  the  Fugitive  Slave  law, 
the  South  brought  the  counter-charge  of  evasion  bordering 
on  defiance  of  a  Federal  statute.  Few  renditions  were 
attempted.  Sometimes  they  were  met  by  forcible  resistance. 
An  alleged  fugitive,  Jerry,  was  rescued  by  the  populace  in 
Syracuse.  A  negro,  Shadrach,  arrested  as  a  fugitive  in 
Boston  in  1851,  was  set  free  and  carried  off  by  a  mob. 
There  was  a  spasm  of  excitement  in  Congress,  but  it  was 
brief  and  resultless.  Later,  in  1854,  when  the  anti-slavery 
tide  was  swiftly  rising,  came  the  rendition  of  Anthony 
Burns,  who  was  taken  through  the  streets  of  Boston 
under  a  strong  guard  of  Federal  troops  and  State  militia, 
while  the  popular  wrath  and  grief  at  the  sight  swelled  the 
wave  which  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise  had 
started  on  its  inevitable  way. 


CHAPTER   XI 

A   LULL   AND   A   RETROSPECT 

AFTER  the  half-year's  debate  over  the  compromise  of  1850 
came  a  time  of  political  quiet.  "  The  tumult  and  the  shout 
ing  died."  It  seemed  more  than  a  temporary  lull.  In  a 
great  tide  of  material  prosperity,  the  country  easily  forgot 
the  slaves ;  if  out  of  sight,  they  were,  to  most,  out  of  mind. 
Webster's  speech  had  a  deep  significance.  He  was  identified 
in  Massachusetts  with  the  classes  representing  commercial 
prosperity,  social  prominence,  and  academic  culture.  In 
these  classes,  throughout  the  North,  there  was  a  general 
apathy  as  to  slavery.  The  temper  of  the  time  was  material 
istic.  There  was  indeed  enough  anti-slavery  sentiment, 
stirred  by  the  7th  of  March  speech  and  the  Fugitive  Slave 
law,  to  change  the  balance  of  power  in  Massachusetts 
politics.  The  Democrats  and  the  Free  Soilers  made  a 
coalition,  and  it  triumphed  over  the  Whigs.  The  Democrats 
took  the  State  offices,  with  George  S.  Boutwell  as  Governor ; 
and  Charles  Sumner — a  scholar,  an  idealist,  an  impressive 
orator,  and  a  pronounced  anti-slavery  man,  though  never 
an  Abolitionist, — was  sent  to  the  Senate  to  reinforce  Seward 
and  Chase. 

The  Presidential  election  of  1852  came  on.  In  the  Whig 
convention  Fillmore  had  some  support,  especially  from  the 
South;  Webster  had  most  of  the  Massachusetts  votes  and 
scarce  any  others ;  and  choice  was  made  of  General  Win- 
field  Scott,  in  the  hope  of  repeating  the  victory  of  1848  with 
another  hero  of  the  Mexican  war.  It  was  to  Webster  a 
blow  past  retrieval;  in  bitterness  of  spirit  he  turned  his 

92 


A  Lull  and  a  Retrospect  93 

face  to  the  wall,  in  his  old  home  at  Marshfield,  and  died. 
The  Democratic  convention  hesitated  between  several  North 
ern  politicians  of  trustworthy  subserviency  to  the  South, — 
Cass,  Douglas,  and  Buchanan — and  its  choice  fell  upon 
Franklin  Pierce  of  New  Hampshire,  an  amiable  man,  of 
fair  ability,  but  easy  to  manage;  he,  too,  the  winner  of  a 
trifle  of  military  glory  in  the  Mexican  conquest.  Both  con 
ventions  professed  entire  content  with  the  settlements  of  the 
compromise.  The  Free  Soilers  nominated  John  P.  Hale 
of  New  Hampshire,  and  made  their  familiar  declaration 
of  principles.  But  they  had  lost  their  Democratic  allies  of 
four  years  earlier,  and  threw  only  150,000  votes — less  by 
100,000  than  at  the  previous  election.  The  Whig  party 
proved  to  be  on  the  verge  of  dissolution.  It  had  lost  its 
hold  on  the  "  conscience  vote  "  of  the  North,  and  was  less 
trusted  than  its  rival  by  the  South.  Pierce  was  chosen  by  a 
great  majority;  he  carried  every  State  except  Vermont, 
Massachusetts,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee. 

Party  politics  were  dull;  commercial  and  material 
interests  seemed  wholly  in  the  ascendant,  and  the  anti- 
slavery  cause  was  at  a  low  ebb.  But  many  things  had  hap 
pened  in  two  decades,  below  the  surface  current  of  public 
events,  and,  just  on  the  threshold  of  a  new  era,  we  may 
glance  back  over  these  twenty  years.  All  the  European 
world  had  been  full  of  movement.  France  had  passed 
through  three  revolutions.  Germany,  Austria,  and  Italy  had 
undergone  a  political  upheaval  and  subsidence;  and  the 
liberal  reverses  of  1848  were  the  precursors  of  national 
unity  and  constitutional  freedom  in  the  near  future. 

England  had  gone  steadily  on  in  the  path  of  conservative 
progress;  had  widened  its  suffrage  by  the  Reform  Act  of 
1832;  had  relieved  distress  and  disarmed  discontent  by  the 
free  trade  policy  of  Sir  Robert  Peel ;  her  factory  legislation 
had  met  a  crying  need  of  the  new  industrial  epoch,  and 


94  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

she  had  pacified  and  energized  Canada  by  giving  her  self- 
government.  Meanwhile  American  progress  had  been  along 
lines  of  its  own.  The  country  had  grown  at  a  tremedous 
rate,  and  mainly  at  the  North  and  West.  Immigration  had 
poured  in  from  Europe,  and  the  stream  of  native  stock  from 
the  seaboard  States  to  the  West  had  hardly  slackened.  It 
was  the  epoch  of  the  railroad  and  the  telegraph.  Manu 
factures  had  increased  and  multiplied ;  acres  fell  under  culti 
vation  by  the  million.  In  this  industrial  growth  the  North 
had  far  outstripped  the  South.  Calhoun  had  urged  the  con 
struction  of  railroads  to  link  the  eastern  and  western  parts 
of  the  South,  but  the  political  motive  could  not  supply  the 
want  of  industrial  force.  The  figures  of  the  census  of  1850 
were  more  eloquent  than  any  orator  as  to  the  relative  effects 
of  free  and  slave  labor.  Intellectually  the  period  had 
been  prolific.  Emerson  had  risen,  the  bright  morning  star 
of  American  literature.  Bryant,  Hawthorne,  Longfellow, 
Lowell,  Whittier,  were  telling  their  stories  or  singing  their 
songs.  Theology  was  fruitful  of  debate  and  change.  The 
Unitarian  movement  had  defined  itself.  Presbyterians  and 
Congregationalists  were  discussing  the  tenets  of  old  school 
and  new.  For  "  women's  rights  "  a  strong  and  promising 
advance  had  been  made,  in  the  face  of  unpopularity  and 
derision.  Religious  revivals,  foreign  missions,  social  re 
forms,  were  making  active  way.  From  all  this  intellectual 
and  social  movement,  unless  we  except  the  emotional  revivals 
of  religion,  the  South  stood  apart.  Literature  it  had  virtu 
ally  none ;  its  theology  was  only  conservative  and  defensive ; 
at  most  so-called  reforms  it  looked  askance. 

In  two  respects  the  South  had  an  advantage.  Its  social 
system  was  aristocratic;  above  the  slaves  came  the  non- 
slave-holding  whites,  including  a  great  mass  of  the  ignorant 
and  degraded;  but  at  the  summit  the  slave-holding  class 
had  a  social  life  in  many  ways  attractive  and  delightful. 


A  Lull  and  a  Retrospect  95 

The  slave-holders,  all  told,  numbered  some  350,000.  The 
controlling  element  consisted  of  the  large  planters,  with  the 
affiliated  members  of  the  liberal  professions.  Plantation 
life  at  its  best  had  a  great  deal  of  beauty  and  charm.  A 
degree  of  improvidence  and  "  shiftlessness,"  by  Northern 
standards,  was  not  inconsistent  with  free  hospitality,  a  gen 
erous  outdoor  life,  an  old-time  culture  with  an  atmosphere 
of  leisure  and  courtesy,  superior  in  its  way  to  what  the  busy 
and  bustling  North  could  show.  The  charming  and  chival 
rous  "  Colonel  Carter  of  Cartersville  "  had  many  a  proto 
type  in  real  life.  A  higher  type  was  sometimes  bred  in 
Southern  society ;  it  was  not  without  some  reason  that  Vir 
ginians  claimed  that  the  mold  which  produced  Washington 
was  not  broken  when  it  could  yield  a  Robert  Lee.  There 
was  a  somber  side;  plantation  life  was  often  a  rank  soil 
for  passions  of  tyranny  and  license.  But  its  better  fruitage 
added  an  element  to  the  composite  American  type  which 
could  not  and  cannot  be  spared. 

The  other  advantage  the  South  possessed  was  the  devo 
tion  of  its  strongest  men  to  political  life.  The  loss  of  com 
merce  and  literature  was  the  gain  of  politics.  The  typical 
Southern  leader  was  apt  to  be  both  a  planter  and  a  lawyer, 
with  a  strong  and  active  interest  in  public  affairs.  Political 
oratory  was  a  favorite  resource  in  the  sparsely-settled 
districts.  The  personal  force  which  in  the  North  was  scat 
tered  among  twenty  fields  was  here  centered  mainly  in  one. 
This  feature  of  Southern  society  worked  together  with  the 
fact  that  the  section  had  in  slavery  a  common  interest  and 
bond.  That  interest  of  the  entire  section,  led  by  its  ablest 
men,  came  naturally  to  be  the  dominant  factor  in  American 
public  life.  When  it  could  not  rule  through  its  own  men,  it 
found  agents  in  subservient  Northern  politicians.  And  so 
it  came  about  that  in  the  early  '505  the  South,  while 
outstripped  altogether  in  population,  wealth,  industrial  and 


96  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

intellectual  achievement,  was  yet  in  substantial  control  of 
the  governmental  power.  In  the  North,  by  the  very  mag 
nitude  of  the  commercial  and  industrial  development  the 
moral  sentiment  in  public  affairs  seemed  submerged  or  at 
least  eclipsed. 

It  was  during  such  a  period  of  apathy  that  there  was  held 
an  anti-slavery  meeting  at  which  two  negroes  were  present, 
Sojourner  Truth,  an  old  woman  whose  shrewdness  matched 
her  fervor,  and  Frederick  Douglas.  Douglas  was  the 
son  of  a  white  father  and  a  slave  mother ;  he  taught  himself 
to  read  and  write,  made  his  escape  into  freedom,  gained  an 
education,  and  became  an  effective  speaker  for  the  anti- 
slavery  cause.  On  this  occasion  he  spoke  with  power  and 
passion  of  the  gloomy  prospects  of  their  people;  govern 
ment,  wealth,  social  advantage,  all  were  on  the  side  of  their 
oppressors ;  good  people  seemed  indifferent  to  their  wrongs ; 
was  there  indeed  any  help  or  hope?  Then  rose  Sojourner 
Truth,  and  looking  at  him  said  only,  "  Frederick !  Is  God 
dead?" 


CHAPTER  XII 

SLAVERY   AS   IT   WAS 

AND  now,  in  the  year  1852,  there  befell  an  event  perhaps 
as  momentous  in  American  history  as  any  between  the 
establishment  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Civil  War.  A 
frail  little  woman,  the  wife  of  an  obscure  theological  pro 
fessor  in  a  Maine  village,  wrote  a  story,  and  that  story 
captured  the  heart  of  the  world.  It  is  scarcely  an  exaggera 
tion  to  say  that  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  converted  the  North 
to  the  cause  of  the  slave.  The  typical  Union  volunteer  of 
1 86 1  carried  the  book  in  his  memory.  It  brought  home  to 
-the  heart  of  the  North,  and  of  the  world,  that  the  slave  was 
a  man, — one  with  mankind  by  that  deepest  tie,  of  human 
love  and  aspiration  and  anguish, — but  denied  the  rights  of 
a  man. 

The  book  was  a  birth  of  genius  and  love.  It  is 
absolutely  sweet-spirited.  Its  intense  and  irresistible  plea 
is  not  against  a  class  or  a  section,  but  against  a  system.  It 
portrays  among  the  Southern  slave-holders  characters  noble 
and  attractive, — Mrs  Shelby,  the  faithful  mistress,  and  the 
fascinating  St.  Clare.  The  worst  villain  in  the  story  is  a 
renegade  Northerner.  Its  typical  Yankee,  Miss  Ophelia, 
provokes  kindly  laughter.  The  book  mixes  humor  with  its 
tragedy;  the  sorrows  of  Uncle  Tom  and  the  dark  story  of 
Cassy  are  relieved  by  the  pranks  of  Black  Sam  and  the  antics 
of  Topsy.  With  all  its  woes,  the  story  somehow  does  not 
leave  a  depressing  effect ;  it  abounds  in  courage  and  action ; 
the  fugitives  win  their  way  to  freedom ;  the  final  impulse 

97 


98  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

is  to  hopeful  effort  against  the  wrong.  Its  basal  motive  was 
the  same  as  that  of  the  Abolitionists,  but  its  spirit  and  method 
were  so  different  from  Garrison's  that  it  won  response  and 
sympathy  where  he  had  roused  antagonism.  Against  phari- 
saical  religion  it  uses  effective  satire, — which  was  intensified 
in  its  successor,  Dred, — but  the  Christianity  of  faith  and 
life  is  its  animating  spirit.  No  book  is  richer  in  the  gospel  of 
love  to  man  and  trust  in  God.  Its  rank  is  high  in  the  new 
literature  which  has  stimulated  and  led  the  great  modern 
movement  for  the  uplifting  of  the  poor  and  oppressed.  Its 
place  is  with  Victor  Hugo's  Les  Miserables  and  Tolstoi's 
War  and  Peace. 

The  motive  of  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  was  an  appeal  to 
the  heart  of  the  American  people.  There  was  no  reference 
to  political  action,  far  less  any  suggestion  of  servile  insur 
rection,  and  there  was  no  discussion  of  methods  of  emanci 
pation.  The  book  set  forth  an  organized,  monstrous  wrong, 
which  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  American  nation,  and 
above  all,  of  the  Southern  people,  to  remove.  The  effect 
at  the  North  was  immeasurably  to  widen  and  deepen  the 
conviction  of  the  wrong  of  slavery,  and  the  desire  to  remove 
it.  But  the  way  to  practical  action  did  not  open;  and 
strangely  enough  there  was  at  first  no  visible  effect  on 
politics.  The  political  logic  of  the  situation  led  straight, 
as  a  first  step,  to  the  support  of  the  Free  Soil  party.  But 
though  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  appeared  (as  a  book)  in 
April,  1852,  and  its  popularity  was  instant,  the  Presidential 
election  seven  months  later  showed  a  Free  Soil  vote  less 
by  100,000  than  four  years  before.  The  political  effect  of 
the  book  was  to  appear  only  when  public  events  two  years 
later  gave  a  sudden  spur  to  the  hesitating  North. 

The  South  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  appeal.  It  shut  the 
book  out  from  its  borders  as  far  as  it  could,  and  one  who 
inquired  for  it  in  a  Southern  bookstore  would  probably  be 


Slavery  as  it  Was  99 

offered  Aunt  Phillis's  Cabin  or  some  other  mild  literary 
anti-toxin.  The  South  protested  that  the  book's  picture 
of  slavery  was  untrue  and  unjust.  It  was  monstrous,  so 
they  said,  that  their  labor  system  should  be  shown  as 
having  its  natural  result  in  the  whipping  to  death  of  a  saintly 
negro  for  his  virtuous  conduct.  Another  reply  was :  "  If 
the  book  is  true,  it  is  really  a  eulogy  of  slavery,  for  it 
depicts  slavery  as  producing  in  Uncle  Tom  a  perfect 
character." 

To  the  objections  to  the  fidelity  of  her  portraiture  Mrs. 
Stowe  replied  with  A  Key  to  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin, — a 
formidable  array  of  proved  facts,  as  to  the  laws  of  the  slave 
States,  and  specific  incidents  which  paralleled  or  exceeded 
all  she  had  told.  As  now  judged,  the  novel  has  some  serious 
imperfections  as  a  picture  of  slavery.  Probably  the  most 
important  of  these  was  expressed  by  Judge  Tourgee,  para 
phrasing  the  proverb  about  the  Russian  and  the  Tartar: 
"  Scratch  one  of  Mrs.  Stowe's  negroes,  and  you  will  find 
a  white  man."  She  failed  adequately  to  differentiate  the 
two  races,  and  described  the  negro  too  much  from  such 
specimens  as  Uncle  Tom  and  George  and  Eliza  Harris.  She 
had  never  lived  in  the  South,,  and  her  knowledge  was 
obtained  from  observation  in  the  border  town  of  Cincinnati, 
from  acquaintance  with  fugitives,  and  from  the  reports  of 
Northern  travelers — all  interpreted  with  the  insight  of 
genius  and  the  impulse  of  philanthropy.  Her  avowed  pur 
pose  was  not  to  make  a  literal  or  merely  artistic  picture, 
but  to  show  the  actual  wrongs  and  legalized  possibilities  of 
wrong  which  called  for  redress.  It  did  not  lessen  the  justice 
of  her  plea,  that  the  mass  of  negroes  were  more  degraded 
than  she  knew,  or  that  their  average  treatment  was  kinder 
than  her  protrayal  showed. 

But  a  true  historical  judgment  of  slavery  must  rest  on  a 
comparison  of  documents.  The  story  told  from  the  master's 


ioo  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

standpoint  should  be  heard.  Among  the  faithful  and 
graphic  narrations  of  this  sort  may  be  named  Mrs.  Burton 
Harrison's  Flower  de  Hundred, — a  volume  of  personal 
reminiscences  of  Virginia  before  the  war.  It  is  a  charm 
ing  story,  without  motive  other  than  the  pleasure  of  recall 
ing  happy  memories,  and  it  describes  a  society  of  various 
and  vivid  charm.  The  mention  of  the  slaves  is  occasional 
and  incidental ;  but  the  description  of  the  plantation  hands, 
and  especially  the  household  servants,  trusted  and  beloved, 
gives  a  sunny  and  doubtless  a  real  side  of  slavery.  Another 
book  is  fuller  and  more  impressive  in  its  treatment.  It 
might  be  said  that  every  American  ought  to  read  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin  as  a  part  of  his  education,  and  to  follow  it 
with  two  other  books  of  real  life.  One  of  these  is  A 
Southern  Planter, — a  biography  of  Thomas  Dabney,  of 
Virginia  and  later  of  Mississippi,  written  by  his  daughter. 
It  is  a  story  amply  worth  reading  for  its  human  interest, 
and  for  its  presentation  of  a  man  of  noble  and  beauti 
ful  character.  One  is  enriched  by  the  acquaintance,  even 
through  a  book,  of  a  man  like  Thomas  Dabney.  And  it 
is  most  desirable  for  the  Northerner  to  vivify  his  impression 
of  the  South  by  the  knowledge  of  men  like  him.  We  are 
misled  by  general  and  geographical  terms :  "  an  English 
man  "  is  a  vague  and  perhaps  unattractive  term  to  an 
American  until  he  knows,  in  books  or  in  flesh  and  blood,  a 
few  Britons  of  the  right  stamp.  And  so  South  and  North 
need  mutual  interpretation  not  alone  through  their  historic 
heroes,  but  through  the  best  of  their  everyday  people.  And 
of  those  best,  surely  Thomas  Dabney  was  one, — a  strong, 
tender,  noble  man,  fulfilling  each  relation  in  family  and 
society  with  loyal  conscience  and  sympathetic  heart. 

From  the  book  we  can  give  but  a  few  instances  of  plan 
tation  life  as  such  a  man  made  it.  When  he  was  to  move 
from  Virginia  to  Mississippi  he  called  together  all  his  slaves, 


Slavery  as  it  Was  161 

— some  hundreds — and  told  them  he 'wanted' to  'take'  n6nc 
of  them  against  their  will,  and  especially  he  would  not 
break  up  any  families.  If  any  of  them  had  wives  or  hus 
bands  on  other  plantations,  he  would  sell  or  buy,  just  as 
they  wished,  so  that  every  family  should  stay  or  go  together. 
Every  one  of  them  elected  to  go  with  their  old  master. 
Settled  in  Mississippi,  his  cotton  plantation  became  the 
admiration  and  envy  of  the  neighbors,  for  the  size  of  the 
crops  as  well  as  the  condition  of  the  workers.  Their  com 
fort  was  amply  secured.  The  general  rule  was  three  hours' 
rest  at  midday  and  a  Saturday  half-holiday.  At  the  height 
of  the  season  hours  were  longer,  but  there  was  a  system  of 
prizes,  for  four  or  five  months  in  the  year,  from  $i  a  week 
to  a  picayune;  with  an  extra  prize  of  a  $5  gold  piece  for 
anyone  picking  600  pounds  a  day;  and  these  prizes  roused 
such  interest  and  excitement  that  some  of  the  ambitious 
ones  had  to  be  compelled  to  leave  the  field  at  night,  wishing 
to  sleep  at  the  end  of  their  row.  The  inefficient  were  gently 
tolerated ;  severe  punishment  was  held  to  be  alike  cruel  and 
useless;  an  incompetent  servant  was  carried  as  a  burden 
from  which  there  was  no  escape.  Such  endurance  was  the 
way  of  all  good  masters  and  mistresses  at  the  South, — "  and 
I  have  known  very  few  who  were  not  good,"  adds  the 
writer.  The  plantation  trained  and  kept  its  own  mechanics ; 
two  each  of  carpenters,  blacksmiths,  millers,  with  five 
seamstresses  in  the  house.  In  the  house,  under  the  mistress's 
eye,  were  cut  and  made  the  clothes  of  all  the  negroes,  two 
woolen  and  two  cotton  suits  a  year,  with  a  gay  calico  Sun 
day  dress  for  each  woman.  The  women  were  taught  sew 
ing  in  the  house.  When  their  babies  were  born  a  nurse 
was  provided,  and  all  the  mother's  work  done  for  her  for 
a  month,  and  for  a  year  she  was  allowed  ample  leisure  for 
the  care  of  the  baby.  The  sons  of  the  family  taught  reading 
to  those  who  wished  to  learn.  Some  of  the  house  servants 


The  Megro  and  the  Nation 

fine  .characters;  the  sketch  of  "  Mammy  Maria" 
one  would  gladly  reproduce.  When  secession  came  on, 
Thomas  Dabney  altogether  disapproved,  and  foresaw  the 
ruin  of  the  South.  He  proposed  to  his  wife  that  they  close 
up  their  affairs,  and  go  to  live  in  England.  Her  reply  was : 
"  What  will  you  do  with  Abby  ?  and  with  Maria  and  Harriet, 
and  their  husbands  and  children,  and  the  rest  of  our 
people  ?  "  That  was  unanswerable.  So  he  stayed,  and  with 
his  family  shared  the  fighting, — for,  the  war  begun,  Dabney 
gave  his  hearty  support  to  the  Southern  cause,  and  his  sons 
went  to  the  field, — shared  the  hardships  of  a  devastated 
country,  the  social  chaos  that  followed,  and  the  slow  recon 
struction, — a  more  intrepid  and  lovable  figure  in  adversity 
than  before. 

His  daughter  writes :  "  In  the  family  of  Thomas  Dab 
ney  the  first  feeling  when  the  war  ended  was  of  joy  that 
one  dreadful  responsibility  at  least  was  removed.  Gradual 
emancipation  had  been  a  hope  and  a  dream  not  to  be 
realized."  "  A  hope  and  a  dream," — it  does  not  appear  that 
it  had  ever  been  seriously  considered  as  a  purpose  or  a 
duty.  "  Not  an  intelligent  white  man  or  woman  in  the 
South,"  says  the  writer,  "  would  now  wish  slavery  restored." 
But  why, — it  is  impossible  not  to  return  to  the  question, — 
why  had  the  South  done  nothing  to  rid  itself  of  the  evil? 
Why  had  it  centered  its  political  energies  in  maintaining 
and  extending  it?  Why  had  it  revolted  from  the  Union 
and  invited  war  and  ruin,  for  a  system  which  when  once 
removed  it  recognized  as  a  burden  and  a  curse?  No  right 
minded  man  can  ponder  that  question  without  taking  a 
step  further,  and  asking  whether  the  evils  in  our  present 
industrial  system  shall  be  allowed  to  go  on  till  they  bring 
down  the  temple  on  our  heads,  or  be  met  with  deliberate 
and  resolute  cure.  And  the  good  and  conscientious  man 
who  does  his  best  under  the  existing  system — as  Thomas 


Slavery  as  it  Was  103 

Dabney  did  under  slavery — is  yet  derelict  unless  he  gives 
his  thought  and  effort  to  such  radical  amendment  as  the 
system  may  need. 

There  is  yet  another  book  in  illustration  of  slavery  which 
ought  to  be  read  by  every  American.  It  is  Fanny  Kemble 
Butler's  A  Residence  on  a  Georgia  Plantation.  She  was 
a  woman  of  unusual  genius,  character,  and  sensibility;  the 
inheritor  of  a  great  dramatic  talent,  and  a  brilliant  actress 
until  she  married  Mr.  Butler  of  Georgia,  and  left  the  stage 
to  live  with  him  on  the  plantation  owned  by  himself  and  his 
brother.  After  no  long  period  she  left  her  husband,  not 
taking  the  world  into  her  confidence  as  to  her  domestic 
affairs,  but  returning  to  the  stage  as  a  dramatic  reader, 
and  passing  into  honored  private  life.  After  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  War  she  published,  with  some  reserves  and 
some  additions,  the  journal  she  had  kept  during  her  life 
on  the  plantation.  As  to  her  personal  relations,  except  as 
touching  the  slaves,  the  book  is  entirely  reticent,  but  it 
is  plain  that  slavery  as  she  saw  it  made  life  under  those  con 
ditions  literally  intolerable.  Below  all  special  cruelties,  she 
writes,  she  felt  the  ever-present,  vivid  wrong  of  living  on 
the  unpaid  labor  of  servants.  '  The  special  wrongs  were 
constant.  Thus  she  describes  the  parting  of  a  family  of 
slaves,  and  the  husband's  awful  distress.  She  tells  of  the 
head-driver,  Frank,  an  every  way  superior  man,  left  at  some 
seasons  in  sole  charge  of  the  plantation;  but  his  wife  was 
taken  from  him  and  made  the  mistress  of  the  overseer. 
There  was  Engineer  Ned,  intelligent  and  capable,  and  him 
self  not  badly  treated,  but  with  a  wife  broken  down  by  being 
driven  to  field  work  too  soon  after  the  birth  of  a  child.  Half 
the  women  on  the  plantation  were  diseased  from  the  same 
cause.  One  woman  brought  to  her  mistress  a  pitiful  tale 
of  such  suffering.  A  little  later  the  mistress  learned  that 
the  woman,  on  the  ground  that  this  visit  had  caused  her 


104  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

day's  labor  to  come  short,  had  received  a  flogging.  She 
appealed  to  her  husband,  but  he  refused  to  interfere.  "  To 
Mr.  's  assertion  of  the  justice  of  poor  Theresa's  pun 
ishment,  I  retorted  the  manifest  injustice  of  unpaid  and 
enforced  labor;  the  brutal  inhumanity  of  allowing  a  man 
to  strip  and  lash  a  woman,  the  mother  of  ten  children;  to 
exact  from  her  toil  which  was  to  maintain  in  luxury  two 
idle  young  men,  the  owners  of  the  plantation.  I  said  I 
thought  female  labor  of  the  sort  exacted  from  these  slaves, 
and  corporal  chastizement  such  as  they  endure,  must  be 

abhorrent  to  any  manly  or  humane  man.  Mr. said  he 

thought  it  was  disagreeable,  and  left  me  to  my  reflections 
with  that  concession."  Presently  he  refused  to  listen  to  any 
more  such  petitions  from  her.  She  writes :  "  A  wild  wish 
rose  in  my  heart  that  the  river  and  the  sea  would  swallow 
up  and  melt  in  their  salt  waves  the  whole  of  this  accursed 
property  of  ours." 

The  principal  physical  hardships,  she  writes,  fell  to  the 
women.  The  children  and  the  old  people  are  idle  and 
neglected;  the  middle-aged  men  do  not  seem  over-worked, 
and  lead  a  mere  animal  existence,  in  itself  not  peculiarly 
cruel  or  distressing,  but  with  a  constant  element  of  fear 
and  uncertainty,  "  and  the  trifling  evils  of  unrequited  labor, 
ignorance  the  most  profound  (to  which  they  are  condemned 
by  law),  and  the  unutterable  injustice  which  precludes 
them  from  all  the  merits  and  all  the  benefits  of  voluntary 
exertion,  and  the  progress  that  results  from  it." 

Her  eye  notes  closely  the  faces  about  her.  When  she 
gathers  the  slaves  to  read  prayers  to  them,  she  observes 
"  their  sable  faces,  so  many  of  them  so  uncouth  in  their 
outlines  and  proportions,  and  yet  all  of  them  so  pathetic, 
and  some  so  sublime  in  their  expression  of  patient  suffering 
and  religious  fervor."  She  says :  "  Just  in  proportion 
as  I  have  found  the  slaves  on  this  plantation  intelligent  and 


Slavery  as  it  Was  105 

advanced,  I  have  observed  this  pathetic  expression  of  coun 
tenance  in  them,  a  mixture  of  sadness  and  fear."  The 
plantation,  she  writes,  was  well  reputed,  and  its  manage 
ment  was  considered  above  the  average. 

Her  analysis  of  the  master  class  in  the  South  is  keen  and 
striking.  "  The  shop  is  not  their  element,  and  the  eager 
spirit  of  speculation  and  the  sordid  spirit  of  gain  do  not 
infect  their  whole  existence,  even  to  their  very  demeanor 
and  appearance,  as  they  too  manifestly  do  those  of  a  large 
proportion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Northern  States.  The 
Southerners  are  infinitely  better  bred  men,  according  to 
English  notions,  than  the  men  of  the  Northern  States.  The 
habit  of  command  gives  them  a  certain  self-possession,  the 
enjoyment  of  leisure  a  certain  ease.  Their  temperament  is 
impulsive  and  enthusiastic,  and  their  manners  have  the  grace 
and  spirit  which  seldom  belong  to  the  development  of  a 
Northern  people;  but  upon  more  familiar  acquaintance  the 
vices  of  the  social  system  to  which  they  belong  will  be  found 
to  have  infected  them  with  their  own  peculiar  taint;  and 
haughty,  over-bearing  irritability,  effeminate  indolence,  reck 
less  extravagance,  and  a  union  of  profligacy  and  cruelty 
which  is  the  immediate  result  of  their  irresponsible  power 
over  their  dependents,  are  some  of  the  less  pleasing 
traits." 

She  gives  another  and  darker  picture  of  the  planter  class. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  it  is  only  a  part  of  the  class  to 
which  it  fairly  applies :  "  A  nation,  for  as  such  they  should 
be  spoken  of,  of  men  whose  organization  and  temperament 
is  that  of  the  southern  European,  living  under  the  influence 
of  a  climate  at  once  enervating  and  exciting,  scattered  over 
trackless  wildernesses  of  arid  sand  and  pestilential  swamp, 
intrenched  within  their  own  boundaries,  surrounded  by 
creatures  absolutely  subject  to  their  despotic  will;  delivered 
over  by  hard  necessity  to  the  lowest  excitements  of  drink- 


io6  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

ing,  gambling,  and  debauchery  for  sole  recreation;  inde 
pendent  of  all  opinion;  ignorant  of  all  progress;  isolated 
from  all  society — it  is  impossible  to  conceive  a  more  savage 
existence  within  the  border  of  any  modern  civilization." 
The  picture  of  the  poor  whites  is  graphic  and  somber,  but 
space  must  limit  these  quotations. 

She  gives  credit  for  the  habits  of  courage  and  command, 
which  are  bred  in  the  upper  class,  as  when  she  tells  of  a 
heroic  rescue  from  a  shipwreck :  "  The  devil  must  have 
his  due,  and  men  brought  up  in  habits  of  peremptory  com 
mand  over  their  fellowmen,  and  under  the  constant  appre 
hension  of  danger  and  awful  necessity  of  immediate  readi 
ness  to  meet  it,  acquire  qualities  precious  to  themselves  and 
others  in  hours  of  supreme  peril." 

She  touches  repeatedly  on  the  social  restrictions  on  free 
speech ;  thus,  speaking  of  two  gentlemen,  one  a  clergyman : 
"  They  seem  good  and  kind  and  amiable  men,  and  I  have 
no  doubt  are  conscientious  in  their  capacity  of  slave  holders ; 
but  to  one  who  has  lived  outside  this  dreadful  atmosphere, 
the  whole  tone  of  their  discourse  has  a  morally  muffled  sound 
which  one  must  hear  to  be  able  to  conceive."  She  observes 
that  whenever  she  discusses  slavery  with  people  she  meets, 
they  waive  the  abstract  right  or  wrong  of  the  system.  Now 
and  then  she  gets  a  bit  of  entire  frankness,  as  when  a  very 
distinguished  South  Carolinian  says  to  her,  "  I'll  tell 
you  why  abolition  is  impossible;  because  every  healthy 
negro  can  fetch  $1000  in  Charleston  market  at  this 
moment." 

She  generalizes  as  to  the  effects  of  emancipation  in  a  way 
which  later  events  completely  justified.  Unlike  the  West 
Indies,  she  says,  the  South  is  not  tropical,  and  will  not  yield 
food  without  labor,  and  necessity  would  compel  the  lib 
erated  blacks  to  work.  That  they  would  not  work,  and  the 
ground  would  lie  idle,  was,  as  we  know,  the  bogy  which  was 


Slavery  as  it  Was  107 

held  up  to  scare  away  from  emancipation — just  as  in  our 
own  day  the  danger  of  race  mixture  is  made  a  bogy  to  scare 
away  from  social  justice.  But  the  event  proved  that  Fanny 
Kemble  was  right  in  her  predictions,  in  which  indeed  she 
was  at  one  with  other  candid  observers  at  the  time.  As  to 
gradual  emancipation,  she  believed  it  unwise — the  system, 
she  writes,  is  too  absolutely  bad  for  slow  measures.  Had 
she  owned  her  husband's  plantation,  she  would  at  once 
have  freed  the  slaves,  and  hired  them,  if  only  as  a  means 
of  financial  salvation. 

She  pronounces  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  to  be  no  exagger 
ation.  Her  own  story  of  facts  gives  a  darker  impression 
than  Mrs.  Stowe's  novel.  It  may  be  asked,  why,  at  this 
distance,  revive  the  tragic  tale?  The  answer  is,  that  the 
truth  of  history  is  precious,  and  our  present  problems  'can 
not  be  understood  if  we  shut  our  eyes  to  their  antecedents. 
Just  now  there  is  a  fashion,  among  many  Southern  writers 
on  the  negro  question,  of  beginning  their  story  with  the 
wrongs  and  sufferings  of  the  reconstruction  period.  Now, 
it  was  indeed  deplorable,  and  a  thing  not  to  be  forgotten, 
that  ignorant  negroes  sat  in  the  Senate  chambers  of  South 
Carolina  and  Mississippi,  that  taxes  \vere  excessive,  and  the 
public  business  mismanaged.  But,  in  the  broad  view,  it 
is  well  to  remember  that  a  few  years  earlier  very  much 
worse  things  than  these  were  happening,  and  that  a  system 
which  made  cattle  of  men  and  women  might  be  expected 
to  avenge  itself. 

Another  work  may  be  merely  mentioned  as  illuminating 
the  facts  of  slavery.  It  is  Frederic  Law  Olmsted's  three 
volumes  of  travels  in  the  slave  States.  He  studied  them 
with  the  eyes  of  a  farmer  and  a  practical  man;  a  well- 
equipped,  fair,  and  keen  observer.  His  testimony,  already 
touched  on  in  these  chapters,  is  very  strong  as  to  the  eco 
nomic  mischief  of  the  system,  its  frequent  cruelties,  its 


io8  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

demoralization  of  both  master  and  slave,  and  the  absolute 
need  of  its  ultimate  extinction.  From  his  pages  we  can 
borrow  but  one  or  two  passages.  The  contrasts  of  slavery 
are  epitomized  in  two  plantations  he  found  side  by  side  in 
Mississippi.  On  one  the  slaves  had  good  food  and  clothes, 
were  not  driven  hard,  were  given  three  stops  in  the  day  for 
meals,  and  had  the  time  from  Friday  night  till  Monday 
morning  for  themselves.  In  this  time  the  men  cultivated 
gardens  and  the  women  washed  and  sewed.  They  were 
smartly  dressed,  and  seemed  very  contented;  many  could 
read  and  write ;  on  Sundays  there  was  a  church  service  and 
a  Sabbath  school  taught  by  their  mistress,  both  of  which 
they  could  attend  or  not  as  they  pleased.  On  the  other  plan 
tation,  owned  by  a  religious  woman,  the  working  hours 
were  from  3.30  A.  M.  to  9  P.  M.  The  slaves  had  only  Sun 
day  free  from  labor,  and  on  that  day  there  were  three 
services  which  they  had  to  attend  under  penalty  of  a  whip 
ping.  They  were  never  allowed  off  the  plantation,  and  were 
whipped  if  they  talked  with  slaves  from  other  plantations. 
Said  a  neighbor,  "  They  can  all  repeat  the  catechism,  but 
they  are  the  dullest,  laziest,  and  most  sorrowful  negroes  I 
ever  saw." 

As  to  the  possibilities  of  gradual  emancipation,  which 
he  favored,  Olmsted  wrote  that  in  Cuba  every  slave  has 
the  right  of  buying  his  own  freedom,  at  a  price  which  does 
not  depend  on  the  selfish  exaction  of  his  master,  but  is 
either  a  fixed  price  or  is  determined  in  each  case  by  dis 
interested  appraisers.  "  The  consequence  is  that  emanci 
pations  are  continually  going  on,  and  the  free  people  of 
color  are  becoming  enlightened,  cultivated,  and  wealthy. 
In  no  part  of  the  United  States  do  they  occupy  the  high 
position  which  they  enjoy  in  Cuba."  So  much  for  the 
despised  Spanish-American. 

From  a  still  different  standpoint — that  of  the  non-slave- 


Slavery  as  it  Was  109 

holding  Southern  white — the  system  was  reviewed  and 
scathingly  judged  in  Helper's  The  Impending  Crisis.  But 
that,  like  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  was  not  merely  a  book,  but 
an  event,  and  as  such  is  to  be  mentioned  in  its  place  among 
events.  The  general  survey  of  the  slave  system  in  itself 
need  not  here  be  carried  further.  As  to  its  essential  charac 
ter  and  basal  principle,  no  truer  word  was  ever  spoken  than 
that  which  Mrs.  Stowe  puts  in  the  mouth  of  the  slave 
holder  St.  Clare: 

"  The  short  of  the  matter  is,  cousin,  on  this  abstract 
question  of  slavery  there  can,  as  I  think,  be  but  one  opinion. 
Planters,  who  have  money  to  make  by  it, — clergymen,  who 
have  planters  to  please, — politicians,  who  want  to  rule  by 
it, — may  warp  and  bend  language  and  ethics  to  a  degree 
that  shall  astonish  the  world  at  their  ingenuity;  they  can 
press  Nature  and  the  Bible,  and  nobody  knows  what  else, 
into  the  service;  but,  after  all,  neither  they  nor  the  world 
believe  in  it  one  particle  the  more.  It  comes  from  the 
devil,  that's  the  short  of  it, — and  to  my  mind,  it's  a  pretty 
respectable  specimen  of  what  he  can  do  in  his  own  line. 
You  seem  to  wonder;  but  if  you  will  get  me  fairly  at  it, 
I'll  make  a  clean  breast  of  it  This  cursed  business, 
accursed  of  God  and  man,  what  is  it?  Strip  it  of  all  its 
ornament,  run  it  down  to  the  root  and  nucleus  of  the  whole, 
and  what  is  it?  Why,  because  my  brother  Quashy  is 
ignorant  and  weak,  and  I  am  intelligent  and  strong, — 
because  I  know  how,  and  can  do  it, — therefore  I  may  steal 
all  he  has,  keep  it,  and  give  him  only  such  and  so  much  as 
suits  my  fancy.  Whatever  is  too  hard,  too  dirty,  too  dis 
agreeable,  for  me,  I  may  set  Quashy  to  doing.  Because 
I  don't  like  work,  Quashy  shall  work.  Because  the  sun 
burns  me,  Quashy  shall  stay  in  the  sun.  Quashy  shall  earn 
the  money,  and  I  will  spend  it.  Quashy  shall  lie  down  in 
every  puddle,  that  I  may  walk  over  dry-shod.  Quashy  shall 


no  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

do  my  will,  and  not  his,  all  the  days  of  his  mortal  life,  and 
have  such  chance  of  getting  to  heaven,  at  last,  as  I  find  con 
venient.  This  I  take  to  be  about  what  slavery  is." 

St.  Clare  goes  on  to  say  that  "  for  pity's  sake,  for  shame's 
sake,  because  we  are  men  born  of  women  and  not  savage 
beasts,  many  of  us  do  not  and  dare  not — we  would  scorn 
to — use  the  full  power  which  our  savage  laws  put  into  our 
hands."  In  truth,  a  compilation  of  the  slave  laws  was  one 
of  the  most  convincing  arguments  against  the  whole  system. 

This  book  is  characterized  by  Charles  G.  Ames, — whose 
long  life  of  noble  service  to  humanity  included  earnest 
work  among  the  anti-slavery  pioneers:  "  To  my  mind,  the 
heaviest  blow,  though  probably  not  the  most  telling  one,  ever 
struck  against  our  slave  system  as  a  system  was  the  compila 
tion  and  publication  of  Stroud's  Slave  Laws — a  codification 
from  the  statute-books  of  the  Southern  States  of  their  own 
barbarous  methods  of  legislation,  made  necessary  for  the 
protection  of  the  peculiar  institution.  All  the  recent  senti 
mental  defenses  of  it,  as  gentle,  humane,  and  patriarchal, 
seem  utterly  to  ignore  the  rugged  facts,  which  Lawyer 
Stroud's  book  made  as  plain  as  the  stratification  of  the  rocks 
to  the  eye  of  the  geologist." 

In  its  actual  administration,  the  system  was  in  a  measure 
softened  and  humanized.  It  was  more  humane  in  the  border 
than  in  the  cotton  and  sugar  States,  and  it  was  generally 
better  when  a  plantation  was  managed  by  its  owner  than 
when  left  to  an  overseer, — as  the  plantation  of  Fanny 
Kemble's  husband  had  been  left.  But  in  one  respect  its  dis 
astrous  effect  was  everywhere  felt.  By  associating  manual 
labor  with  the  stigma  of  servitude,  it  bred,  in  free  men,  a 
strong  disrelish  for  work, — a  most  demoralizing  and  ruinous 
influence.  Inefficiency  and  degradation  were  the  marks 
of  the  non-slaveholding  whites.  The  master  class  missed 
the  wholesome  regimen  of  toil.  Nature  is  never  more 


Slavery  as  it  Was  ill 

beneficent  than  when  she  lays  on  man  the  imperative  com 
mand  "  Thou  shalt  work."  Of  all  ways  of  evading  it  the 
worst  is  to  shift  the  burden  to  another  man.  In  being 
driven  to  do  other  men's  work  as  well  as  his  own  the  negro 
found  some  compensation,  but  his  enslaver  paid  a  constant 
and  heavy  penalty. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE    STRUGGLE    FOR   KANSAS 

THE  foremost  politician  of  the  Northwest,  in  the  early 
'503,  was  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  United  States  senator  from 
Illinois.  He  was  a  native  of  Vermont,  and  had  early  gone 
West  and  pushed  his  fortunes  with  energy,  audacity,  and 
shrewdness.  He  was  an  effective,  popular  speaker ;  and  his 
short  and  stout  frame  and  large  head  had  won  for  him 
the  nickname  of  "  The  Little  Giant."  He  was  a  leader  in 
the  Democratic  party,  and  a  prominent  Presidential  candi 
date,  but  never  identified  with  any  great  political  principle 
or  broad  policy.  He  was  chairman  of  the  Senate  committee 
on  Territories,  and  early  in  the  session  of  1853-4  he  intro 
duced  a  bill  for  the  organization  of  a  vast  section  hitherto 
known  as  "  the  Platte  country,"  a  part  of  the  Louisiana 
purchase,  lying  next  to  the  western  tier  of  States,  and 
stretching  from  Indian  Territory  to  Canada;  all  of  which 
was  now  to  constitute  the  Territory  of  Nebraska,  or,  as  it 
was  soon  divided,  the  two  Territories  of  Nebraska  and 
Kansas.  This  region  had  as  yet  been  scarcely  touched  by 
permanent  settlers,  but  it  was  the  next  step  in  the  great 
onward  march  toward  the  Pacific.  It  lay  north  of  the  line 
of  36  degrees  30  minutes,  above  which  it  had  been  declared 
by  the  compromise  act  of  1820  slavery  should  never  be 
extended.  Douglas  incorporated  in  his  "  Kansas-Nebraska  " 
bill,  a  clause  declaring  that  the  prohibition  of  slavery  north 
of  36  degrees  30  minutes,  by  the  act  of  1820,  had  been 
"  superseded  by  the  principles  of  the  legislation  of  1850," 
and  was  "  inoperative  and  void."  Later  he  added  the 

112 


The  Struggle  for  Kansas  113 

explanatory  clause :  "  It  being  the  true  intent  and  meaning 
of  this  act,  not  to  legislate  slavery  into  any  Territory  or  State, 
nor  to  exclude  it  therefrom,  but  to  leave  the  people  thereof 
perfectly  free  to  form  and  regulate  their  domestic  institu 
tions  in  their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States."  On  its  face,  this  was  a  proposal  to 
withdraw  the  congressional  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the 
Northwestern  territory,  and  remand  the  question  to  the 
territorial  population.  But  the  latent  purpose  to  distinctly 
favor  slavery  was  proved  when  Senator  Chase  moved  an 
additional  clause:  "Under  which  (the  Constitution)  the 
people  of  the  Territory,  through  their  appropriate  repre 
sentatives,  may,  if  they  see  fit,  prohibit  the  existence  of 
slavery  therein  " ;  and  Douglas  and  his  followers,  in  defiance 
of  consistency,  instantly  threw  this  out.  The  meaning  of 
the  whole  business  was  unmistakable;  under  the  pretext 
of  "  popular  sovereignty," — Douglas's  favorite  watchword 
— the  bars  were  thrown  down  and  slavery  was  invited  to 
enter. 

The  proposal  took  the  country  completely  by  surprise. 
The  South  was  not  asking  for  a;iy  such  advantage  as  was 
offered,  but  was  prompt  to  accept  it.  This  of  course 
Douglas  had  expected,  and  in  this  lay  his  personal  gain  as 
a  Presidential  candidate.  But  he  had  utterly  misjudged 
the  temper  of  the  North.  The  general  acquiescence  in  the 
compromise  of  1850  might  seem  to  indicate  a  weariness  or 
indifference  as  to  the  slavery  question.  But  just  as  in  1820 
and  in  1850,  again  there  sprung  up  a  wide  and  deep  hostility 
to  any  extension  of  slavery,  and  now  the  old  restraints  on  that 
hostility  were  gone,  and  its  sources  were  newly  filled.  For 
now  Clay  and  Webster  were  dead,  and  the  case  itself  offered 
no  room  for  compromise ;  no  offset  was  possible.  And  the 
anti-slavery  feeling  had  strengthened  immensely  throughout 
the  North.  Under  the  stimulus  of  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  the. 


H4  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

inhumanity  of  the  system  had  made  the  deepest  impression 
on  the  popular  imagination  and  conscience.  To  this  system 
it  was  now  proposed  to  throw  open  all  the  fair  and  fertile 
Northwest,  in  effect  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific. 
The  North  awoke  like  a  giant  from  sleep.  The  old  party 
organizations  went  down  in  the  shock;  a  new  party  came 
instantly  to  birth;  and  the  last  triumph  of  slavery  in  Con 
gress  gave  the  signal  for  a  six-years'  campaign,  ending  in 
the  triumph  of  the  Republicans  and  the  appeal  of  the  South 
to  revolution. 

The  debate  in  Congress  was  hot  through  the  winter  and 
spring  of  1854.  In  the  Senate,  Seward  and  Sumner  and 
Chase  had  been  reinforced  by  such  allies  as  Benjamin  Wade 
of  Ohio,  Hamilton  Fish  of  New  York,  Solomon  Foot  of 
Vermont,  and  William  P.  Fessenden  of  Maine.  The  sup 
porters  of  the  bill,  with  such  leaders  as  Douglas  and  Cass 
from  the  North  and  Mason  and  Benjamin  from  the  South, 
proved  finally  to  number  three-fourths  of  the  Senate.  In 
the  House,  party  lines  were  completely  broken,  and  the 
division  was  almost  equal, — the  bill  passed  by  113  to  no. 
Its  supporters  included  all  the  Southern  and  just  half  of  the 
Northern  Democrats,  and  two-thirds  of  the  few  Southern 
Whigs.  Its  opponents  were  all  the  Northern  and  a  third  of 
the  Southern  Whigs,  with  half  of  the  Northern  Democrats 
and  the  four  Free-Soilers  in  the  House. 

The  bill  finally  passed  on  the  25th  of  May,  1854,  and 
there  instantly  began  a  hot  battle  for  the  congressional 
election.  On  the  very  next  morning, — so  Henry  Wilson  re 
lates, — a  meeting  of  about  twenty  members  of  the  House  was 
held;  among  their  leaders  were  Israel  Washburn,  Jr.,  of 
Maine,  and  Edward  Dickinson  and  Thomas  D.  Eliot  of 
Massachusetts;  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  best  hope  lay 
not  in  the  Whig  organization,  but  in  a  new  party,  for  which 
the  name  "  Republican.  "  was  chosen :  and~  of  which  this 


The  Struggle  for  Kansas  115 

occasion  might  now  be  considered  the  birth  and  christening. 
It  came  to  its  earliest  maturity  in  Michigan,  where  the 
Whigs  and  Free  Soilers  united  in  the  new  party  and  carried 
the  autumn  election.  But  in  most  Northern  States  there  was 
political  confusion,  heightened  by  the  sudden  appearance 
of  the  "  American  "  party.  This  was  the  political  develop 
ment  of  the  "  Know-nothing  "  secret  society,  which  came 
into  existence  the  year  before,  on  the  basis  of  the  exclusion 
of  recent  immigrants  from  political  power.  Its  special 
animus  was  hostility  to  the  Irish  Catholics,  and  in  various 
parts  of  the  country  it  had  for  a  year  or  two  a  mushroom 
growth.  In  Massachusetts,  where  the  Whigs  clung  obsti 
nately  to  their  tradition  and  their  social  prestige,  and  the 
Republican  party  was  at  first  only  a  continuance  of  the  Free 
Soil,  the  Know-nothings  won  in  1854  a  sweeping  victory, 
carrying  the  State  by  almost  two  to  one  and  electing  all  the 
members  of  Congress.  That  shrewd  politician,  Henry 
Wilson,  contributed  to  the  result ;  was  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate;  and  led  the  anti-slavery  element  which  con 
trolled  the  American  party  in  Massachusetts  and  a  year  or 
two  later  divided  its  national  organization.  In  other  States, 
the  term  "  anti-Nebraska "  was  the  basis  of  a  temporary 
union,  such  as  in  Ohio  had  a  majority  of  70,000.  In  New 
York  the  influence  of  Greeley,  Seward,  and  Weed  prolonged 
the  W'hig  organization  as  an  anti-Nebraska  party.  The 
roster  of  the  new  Congress  was  a  jumble  of  Democrats, 
Whigs,  Republicans,  Americans,  and  anti-Nebraskans.  But 
the  general  result  was  clear;  Douglas's  bill  had  turned  an 
overwhelming  administration  majority  into  a  minority  of 
the  popular  vote;  and  the  political  revolution  had  carried 
the  House  in  the  first  engagement.  The  result  crystallized 
a  year  later,  when  an  obstinate  battle  of  many  weeks  for  the 
House  speakership  ended  in  the  election  of  Nathaniel  P. 
Banks  of  Massachusetts. 


n6  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

The  immediate  practical  effect  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
Act  was  to  throw  the  political  destiny  of  those  Territories 
into  the  hands  of  the  future  settlers.  There  were  men  at 
the  North  who  were  prompt  to  see  and  seize  the  opportunity. 
In  February,  1854,  three  months  before  the  bill  became  law, 
the  New  England  Emigrant  Aid  Society  was  incorporated 
in  Massachusetts.  Its  originator  was  Eli  Thayer  of  Worces 
ter,  and  among  its  active  promoters  was  Edward  Everett 
Hale.  In  the  following  July  it  sent  to  Kansas  a  colony  of 
twenty-four,  speedily  followed  by  another  of  seventy,  which 
founded  the  town  of  Lawrence.  Other  colonies  followed 
from  various  Northern  States,  and  other  settlements  were 
made.  The  natural  westward  movement  of  an  active  pop 
ulation  seeking  new  homes  and  personal  betterment  was 
augmented  and  stimulated  by  a  propaganda  of  freedom. 
Whittier  gave  the  colonists  a  marching  song: 

We  cross  the  prairies  as  of  old 

Our  fathers  crossed  the  sea, 
To  make  the  West  as  they  the  East 

The  home  of  liberty. 

A  counter  movement  was  started  from  the  South. 
Missouri  was  its  natural  base.  But  Missouri  furnished  the 
material  and  leadership  for  another  kind  of  crusade.  The 
rough  and  lawless  element  of  a  border  community  was 
brought  out  in  its  worst  character  by  the  appeal  to  champion 
the  cause  of  slavery.  Men  high  in  political  life  were  ready 
to  utilize  such  forces.  The  first  settlers  of  Lawrence,  before 
they  had  time  to  raise  their  houses,  were  visited  by  a 
ruffianly  mob  from  Missouri,  who  tried  by  threats  and  show 
of  force  to  drive  them  from  the  Territory,  but  failed.  When 
in  November  the  first  election  was  held  for  Territorial  dele 
gate  to  Congress,  there  was  a  systematic  invasion  by  bands 
of  Missourians,  who  captured  the  polling-places  and  elected 


The  Struggle  for  Kansas  117 

their  candidate  by  3000  votes;  though  it  was  afterward 
proved  that  there  were  only  half  that  number  of  voters 
resident  in  Kansas. 

In  1855  the  first  Territorial  Legislature  was  elected  by  a 
similar  invasion  of  armed  men,  which  chose  the  entire  body. 
A  foremost  leader  in  these  operations  was  United  States 
Senator  Atchison  of  Missouri.  President  Pierce's  admin 
istration  recognized  the  usurping  faction.  It  sent  a  suc 
cession  of  governors — Reeder,  Shannon,  Geary,  Walker 
(the  last  was  sent  by  President  Buchanan) — who,  with  the 
exception  of  the  incompetent  and  worthless  Shannon,  were 
by  the  inexorable  facts  of  the  situation  won  to  the  side  of 
the  Free-State  men,  and  accordingly  lost  favor  and  their 
office.  Meantime  the  usurping  Legislature  had  enacted  an 
extraordinary  code  of  laws.  By  these  statutes,  decoying  a 
slave  from  his  master  was  punishable  by  death  or  hard 
labor  for  ten  years;  the  circulation  of  writings  inciting  to 
revolt  was  made  a  capital  offense;  and  the  assertion  by 
speech,  writing,  or  the  circulation  of  any  book  or  paper, 
that  slavery  was  not  lawful  in  the  Territory,  was  punishable 
by  two  years'  hard  labor. 

It  was  not  in  the  blood  of  free  men  to  submit  to  such 
usurpation  and  tyranny.  In  the  autumn  of  1855  the  Free 
State  party  held  a  convention,  adopted  a  State  constitution, 
and  petitioned  for  admission  to  the  Union.  They  elected 
State  officers  with  Charles  S.  Robinson  as  Governor.  This 
organization  had  really  no  legal  standing;  in  form  it  was 
revolutionary.  But  the  Free  State  party  were  not  only 
resolute,  but  adroit.  They  had  no  mind  to  actively  rebel 
against  the  United  States  Government,  or  come  into  col 
lision  with  its  forces.  Governor  Robinson,  their  foremost 
leader,  was  a  man  of  New  England  birth,  who  had  served 
a  profitable  apprenticeship  in  the  settlement  of  California, 
and  learned  a  lesson  ainid  the  complications  of  Federal 


ii8  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

authority  and  pioneer  exigencies.  Counseled  by  him  and 
men  of  like  mind,  the  Free  State  party,  while  maintaining 
the  form  of  a  State  government,  and  disavowing  the  Terri 
torial  Legislature  as  fraudulent,  always  deferred  to  any 
express  mandate  of  Federal  authority.  The  Federal  troops 
in  the  Territory  were  commanded  by  Colonel  Sumner,  after 
ward  a  distinguished  commander  in  the  Union  army,  and 
Governor  Robinson  (The  Kansas  Conflict),  credits  him 
with  a  loyal  and  generally  successful  purpose  to  preserve 
order  and  peace.  In  the  mixed  population  there  was  much 
bad  blood,  many  threats,  and  occasional  violence,  but  no 
general  conflict.  The  "  border  ruffians  "  were  often  insult 
ing,  and  some  murders  were  committed,  but  the  Free  State 
men  kept  steadily  on  the  defensive,  though  there  was  among 
them  a  faction  which  favored  more  aggressive  measures. 

At  last,  a  Free-State  man  was  wantonly  murdered;  then 
an  eye-witness  of  the  murder  was  got  away  on  an  appar 
ently  trumped-up  charge;  this  was  followed  by  a  bloodless 
rescue  and  the  witness  was  carried  off  to  Lawrence.  Then 
a  sheriff  with  his  posse  went  to  Lawrence  to  arrest  one  of 
the  rescuers.  In  the  night  the  sheriff  was  fired  at  and 
wounded.  He  retreated ;  and  immediately  afterward  a 
formidable  demonstration  was  made  against  the  town  of 
Lawrence.  The  situation  was  peculiar.  Many  of  the  Free- 
State  men  were  armed ;  contributions  had  been  openly  taken 
in  the  North  for  this  purpose,  and  "  Sharpe's  rifles  "  was 
one  of  the  familiar  words  of  the  day.  But  this  policy  was 
fixed — to  disown  and  disobey  the  authority  of  the  Territorial 
Legislature,  but  never  to  oppose  or  resist  a  United  States 
official.  In  this  way,  says  Robinson,  the  entire  odium  of 
all  oppressive  proceedings  was  fixed  on  the  Federal  admin 
istration  ;  "  the  more  outrages  the  people  could  get  the 
government  to  perpetrate  upon  them  the  more  victories  they 
would  gain,  and  this  simply  because  the  field  of  battle  em- 


The  Struggle  for  Kansas  119 

braced  the  entire  country,  and  the  chief  victories  at  this 
stage  were  to  be  moral,  political,  and  national." 

The  Territorial  authorities  were  bent  on  breaking  down, 
if  possible,  the  passive  resistance  of  the  Free-State  men. 
Indictments  were  found,  by  a  Federal  grand  jury,  against  a 
number  of  members  of  the  Free-State  government  for 
"  constructive  treason,"  and  they  were  put  under  arrest. 
Indictments  were  also  found  against  two  printing  offices  in 
Lawrence,  and  the  principal  hotel  in  the  town.  A  large 
force  of  Missourians,  led  by  a  United  States  marshal,  ad 
vanced  on  the  town.  The  inhabitants  protested,  but  agreed 
to  respect  the  United  States  authority.  The  hotel  and  the 
two  printing  offices  were  accordingly  destroyed.  A  con 
siderable  amount  of  lawless  pillaging  was  done,  and  Gov 
ernor  Robinson's  house  was  burned.  Then  the  force  was 
withdrawn. 

The  Free-State  leaders,  as  Robinson  states,  were  in  no 
wise  cast  down  by  the  course  of  events.  Their  actual  losses 
had  not  been  great;  the  temporary  confinement  of  a  few 
of  their  men  did  not  seriously  disturb  them ;  and  they  con 
sidered  that  by  their  self-restraint  and  non-resistance  they 
had  put  their  enemies  thoroughly  in  the  wrong,  and  gained 
a  most  valuable  vantage-ground  for  the  ensuing  Presiden 
tial  and  congressional  elections — an  estimate  which  the 
result  fully  justified. 

But  in  their  party  were  some  spirits  to  whom  these  peace 
ful  tactics  were  distasteful.  Chief  in  this  number  was  John 
Brown — little  known  to  the  world  at  large  till  a  later  time. 
He  and  his  family  of  sons  had  made  their  homes  in  Kansas, 
impelled  partly  by  the  hostility  to  slavery  which  in  him  was 
a  master  passion.  He  was  a  man  personally  upright  and 
kindly,  of  only  moderate  interest  and  capacity  for  the  ordi 
nary  practical  affairs  of  life,  given  to  brooding  on  public 
events  and  ideal  causes,  and  viewing  them  with  a  fanatic's 


i2O  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

narrowness  and  a  fanatic's  absorption.  He  was  a  belated 
Puritan,  and  his  natural  place  would  have  been  with  Crom 
well's  Ironsides.  His  ideas  were  largely  influenced  by  his 
reading  of  the  Bible,  especially  of  the  Old  Testament.  Of 
the  modern  State  and  the  duties  of  the  modern  citizen  he 
had  no  rational  idea.  Following  the  Old  Testament  analogy, 
he  conceived  of  the  slaveholders  as  the  enemies  of  God — 
like  the  Canaanites;  and  he  came  to  imagine  for  himself  a 
mission  like  one  of  the  Hebrew  leaders.  His  favorite  hero 
seems  to  have  been  Gideon,  and  to  assail  and  overcome  the 
Midianites,  a  handful  against  a  host,  became  his  dream. 

How  the  peaceful  tactics  of  the  Free-State  party  suited 
his  temper  may  be  easily  guessed,  and  four  days  after  the 
attack  on  Lawrence  (which  was  May  20,  1856),  he  acted 
on  a  plan  of  his  own.  At  the  head  of  a  small  group  of  men, 
including  two  of  his  sons  and  a  son-in-law,  he  went  at  night 
down  Pottawatomie  creek,  stopping  at  three  houses.  The 
men  who  lived  in  them  were  well-known  pro-slavery  men; 
they  seem  to  have  been  rough  characters ;  their  most  specific 
offense  (according  to  Mr.  Sanborn,  Brown's  biographer 
and  eulogist),  was  the  driving  from  his  home  by  violent 
threats  an  inoffensive  old  man.  John  Brown  and  his  party 
went  down  the  creek,  called  at  one  after  the  other  of  three 
houses ;  took  five  men  away  from  their  wives  and  children ; 
and  deliberately  shot  one  and  hacked  the  others  to  death 
with  swords. 

Mr.  Sanborn's  defense  of  this  act  is :  "  Brown  long  fore 
saw  the  deadly  conflict  with  the  slave  power  which  culmi 
nated  in  the  Civil  War,  and  was  eager  to  begin  it,  that  it 
might  be  the  sooner  over."  He  begins  his  chapter  on  "  The 
Pottawatomie  Executions  " :  "  The  story  of  John  Brown 
will  mean  little  to  those  who  do  not  believe  that 
God  governs  the  world,  and  that  he  makes  his  will 
known  in  advance  to  certain  chosen  men  and  women, 


The  Struggle  for  Kansas  121 

who  perform  it  consciously  or  unconsciously.  Of  such 
prophetic  heaven-appointed  men,  John  Brown  was  the 
most  conspicuous  in  our  time,  and  his  life  must  be  con 
strued  in  the  light  of  that  fact."  He  also  declares  that  the 
"  execution  "  of  these  five  men  was  an  offset  to  the  killing 
of  five  Free-State  men  by  various  persons  during  the  pre 
ceding  twelve-month,  and  that  it  was  calculated  to  strike 
wholesome  terror  into  evil-doers.  The  ethics,  theology,  and 
statesmanship  of  this  defense  are  possible  only  to  one  bent 
on  making  Brown  a  hero  at  any  cost. 

The  natural  result  of  the  Pottawatomie  "  executions," — 
in  which  John  Brown's  complicity  was  for  a  time  concealed 
— was  a  series  of  retaliations  on  both  sides,  and  a  state  of 
affairs  far  more  anarchic  than  Kansas  had  known  before. 
This  lasted  through  the  summer  of  1856.  The  general  im 
pression  on  the  country  was  to  strengthen  the  opposition 
to  the  usurpation  of  the  Territorial  Legislature,  and  to  the 
administration  which  sustained  it.  In  September  there 
came  a  crisis.  Another  and  graver  attack  on  Lawrence 
was  threatened,  and  this  time  a  vigorous  resistance  was 
probable.  But  a  new  and  able  governor,  John  W.  Geary 
of  Pennsylvania,  had  been  dispatched  by  President  Pierce, 
with  imperative  instructions  to  pacify  the  Territory,  as  a 
pressing  political  necessity.  Geary  met  Robinson — the 
treason  prisoners  had  already  been  released — and  as  the 
two  men  had  been  near  each  other  in  the  California  troubles 
and  thus  had  the  advantage  of  a  mutual  acquaintance,  an 
understanding  was  soon  reached ;  Geary  called  off  the  dogs 
of  war,  and  a  time  of  quiet  followed. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

"  FREMONT  AND  FREEDOM  " 

THE  Congress  of  1855-6,  divided  between  an  administra 
tion  Senate  and  an  opposition  House,  accomplished  little 
but  talk.  One  chapter  of  this  talk  had  a  notable  sequel. 
Charles  Sumner,  in  an  elaborate  and  powerful  oration  in 
the  Senate,  denounced  slavery,  "the  sum  of  all  villainies/' 
and  bitterly  satirized  one  of  its  prominent  defenders,  Sen 
ator  Butler  of  South  Carolina.  He  compared  Butler  to 
Don  Quixote,  enamored  of  slavery  as  was  the  knight  of 
his  Dulcinea,  and  unconscious  that  instead  of  a  peerless 
lady  she  was  but  a  wanton.  The  response  to  the  speech 
was  made  by  a  nephew  of  Senator  Butler  and  member  of 
the  House,  Preston  S.  Brooks  of  South  Carolina.  He 
entered  the  Senate  chamber  during  a  recess,  accompanied 
and  guarded  by  a  friend  and  fellow  member,  Lawrence 
Keitt;  approached  Sumner  as  he  sat  writing  at  his  desk, 
and  without  words  felled  him  to  the  ground  with  a  heavy 
cane,  and  beat  him  about  the  head  till  he  was  insensible. 
Sumner,  a  man  of  fine  physique,  was  for  a  long  time  an 
invalid  from  the  assault,  and  was  unable  for  years  to  resume 
his  place  in  the  Senate. 

It  was  not  so  much  the  individual  act  of  Brooks  as  its 
treatment  by  his  party  and  section  that  gave  the  deepest 
significance  to  the  deed  and  produced  the  most  lasting 
effect.  A  friendly  magistrate  sentenced  Brooks  to  a  nom 
inal  fine  and  so  forestalled  further  prosecution.  His  party 
friends  in  Congress  left  all  public  rebuke  of  the  deed  to 
Republicans.  A  motion  to  expel  Brooks  and  Keitt  from 

122 


"  Fremont   and    Freedom"  123 

the  House  failed  of  the  necessary  two-thirds  vote.  They 
resigned,  and  were  promptly  and  triumphantly  re-elected. 
Noisy  applause  of  the  attack  came  from  all  parts  of  the 
South,  with  a  stack  of  canes  marked  "  Hit  him  again." 
That  better  class  of  Southerners  by  whom  the  assault  was 
felt,  as  one  of  them  expressed  it  long  afterward,  "  like  a 
blow  in  the  face,"  made  no  demonstration.  So  far  from 
losing  caste,  as  a  gentleman  or  a  public  man,  Brooks  not 
only  kept  his  place  in  society,  but  was  honored  a  few 
months  later  with  a  public  banquet,  at  which  such  men  as 
Butler  and  Toombs  and  Mason  joined  in  the  laudations,  and 
gave  a  background  to  the  scene  by  free  threats  of  disunion 
if  the  Republicans  elected  their  President. 

This  treatment  of  Brooks  made  an  impression  at  the 
North  far  beyond  the  first  hot  indignation  at  his  brutal  out 
rage.  The  condonation  and  applause  of  that  outrage  was 
taken  as  sure  evidence  of  a  barbaric  state  of  opinion,  the 
natural  accompaniment  of  slavery.  What  made  the  matter 
worse  was  that  the  assault  had  a  technical  justification 
under  the  code  of  honor  which  it  was  Brooks's  pride  as  a 
Southern  gentleman  to  observe.  The  code  called  on  a  man 
who  had  given  offense  by  his  words  to  meet  the  offended 
man  in  a  duel,  and  if  he  refused,  he  was  fairly  subject  to 
public  disgrace  or  even  physical  chastisement.  Such  a 
theory  and  practice,  and  the  sentiments  associated  with  it, 
stamped  slavery  with  a  heavier  condemnation  than  orator 
or  novelist  could  frame. 

This  one  week  in  May,  1856,  was  dark  with  omens  of 
impending  catastrophe.  On  May  20  Lawrence  was  de 
vastated;  on  the  22d,  Sumner  was  assaulted;  and  on  the 
24th  took  place  the  Pottawatomie  massacre.  A  shadow  as 
of  impending  doom  was  reflected  in  Mrs.  Stowe's  second 
anti-slavery  novel,  Dred,  which  appeared  about  this  time. 
While  lacking  the  inspiration  and  power  of  Uncle  Tom's 


124  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

Cabin,  it  had  in  the  main  a  similar  tone  of  humanity,  sym 
pathy  and  fairness.  Again  the  better  element  of  the 
Southern  whites  was  portrayed,  in  the  benevolent  slave 
holder  Clayton;  the  brave  Methodist  preacher,  Father 
Dickson;  and  the  book's  heroine,  Nina  Gordon.  There 
were  realistic  and  graphic  pictures  of  the  negro  at  his  best, 
in  Old  Tiff  and  Milly.  The  sophistries  and  time-serving  of 
ecclesiastics  were  fairly  pictured.  The  fundamental  atti 
tude  of  the  law  in  regarding  the  slave  as  the  creature  of  his 
master's  convenience  was  shown  with  historic  fidelity.  But 
the  book  took  its  name  from  a  negro,  half-prophetic,  half- 
crazed,  who  maintained  in  the  Dismal  Swamp  a  refuge  for 
slaves,  and  purposed  an  uprising  to  conquer  their  freedom. 
To  Southern  imaginations  it  might  well  recall  Nat  Turner 
and  the  horrors  of  his  revolt.  Mrs.  Stowe  inevitably  ideal 
ized  everything  she  touched ;  and  to  idealize  the  leader  of  a 
servile  insurrection  might  well  be  regarded  as  carrying  fire 
into  a  powder  magazine.  The  moving  expostulation  of  the 
Christian  slave  Milly  with  Dred,  the  death  of  Dred,  the 
frustration  of  his  plans,  and  the  pitiful  wrongs  he  sought 
to  redress,  veiled  from  the  Northern  reader  the  suggestion  of 
other  dangers  and  tragedies  to  which  the  Southern  reader 
was  keenly  alive.  As  we  read  the  book  now,  the  glimpses 
of  coming  terror  and  disaster  in  Dred's  visions  seem  like  a 
presage  of  the  war  which  in  truth  was  only  four  years 
away. 

But  the  prevailing  temper  of  the  time  was  as  yet  little 
clouded  by  any  such  forebodings.  It  was  a  great  wave  of 
popular  enthusiasm,  sane,  resolute,  and  hopeful,  which 
moved  forward  in  the  first  Presidential  campaign  of  the 
Republican  party  in  1856.  The  convention  met  at  Phila 
delphia  in  June.  Its  temper  was  well  described  in  a  letter 
from  Samuel  Bowles  to  his  paper,  the  Springfield  Repub 
lican, — which  from  moderate  anti-slavery  Whig  had  become 


"  Fremont    and    Freedom"  125 

ardently  Republican  when  the   Missouri  compromise  was 
repealed.1 

"  Certainly  we  never  saw  a  political  convention  in  which 
there  was  so  much  soul  as  in  that  at  Philadelphia.  It  was 
politics  with  a  heart  and  a  conscience  in  it.  Cincinnati  (the 
Democratic  convention)  gathered  the  remains  of  a  once 
powerful  rfational  party  and  contributed  to  its  further  sec- 
tionalization  and  destruction.  Philadelphia  called  together 
the  heart,  the  independence,  and  the  brains  of  all  parties, 
to  establish  a  broader  and  juster  nationality.  Such  a  fusion 
of  contradictory  elements  was  never  witnessed  in  this  coun 
try  before  since  the  times  of  the  Revolution.  Nor  could  it 
happen  now  save  under  a  great  emergency,  and  from  a 
controlling  necessity.  Such  a  combination  of  the  material 
and  mental  forces  of  the  republic  as  was  represented  in  the 
Philadelphia  convention,  and  united  in  its  enthusiastic  and 
harmonious  results,  has  more  power  than  any  political  com 
bination  ever  formed  before  in  this  country,  and  cannot  in 
the  nature  of  things  be  long  kept  in  the  background.  There 
is  no  law  more  certain  than  that  which  will  throw  such  a 
union  of  the  moral  strength,  intellectual  activity,  and  youth- 

1 A  word  should  be  said  as  to  the  frequency  with  which  the 
Springfield  Republican  is  quoted  in  this  work.  The  author  wrote 
an  earlier  book,  The  Life  and  Times  of  Samuel  Bozvles,  (Cen 
tury  Co.) — the  founder  of  the  Republican.  As  the  background  of 
his  life,  a  careful  study  was  made  of  the  political  events  during  his 
years  of  editorial  activity,  1844-77.  The  original  matter  for  this 
was  largely  drawn  from  the  files  of  the  Republican.  In  studying 
the  whole  ground  afresh  for  the  present  history,  advantage  was 
taken  of  this  material,  and  further  citations  were  drawn  from  the 
same  paper.  The  interpretation  of  current  events  by  an  independent 
and  sagacious  newspaper  yields  invaluable  material  for  the  historian ; 
and  my  study  of  the  Republican,  from  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
compromise  in  1854  to  the  present,  has  heightened  my  respect  for 
the  breadth,  sobriety,  and  moral  insight  with  which  it  judged  the 
questions  of  the  day. 


126  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

fui  energy  of  the  nation  into  supremacy,  and  that  right 
speedily.  It  may  be  delayed  for  a  season,  but  its  course  is 
onward  and  its  victory  is  certain." 

The  declaration  of  principles  dealt  wholly  with  the 
slavery  issue.  It  asserted  that  under  the  Constitution,  as 
interpreted  by  the  Declaration  and  the  ordinance  of  1787, 
slavery  had  no  right  to  exist  in  any  of  the  national  Terri 
tories.  It  called  on  Congress  to  prohibit  in  the  Territories 
"  the  twin  relics  of  barbarism,  slavery  and  polygamy."  It 
dwelt  with  great  emphasis  on  the  wrongs  of  the  Kansas 
settlers ;  the  establishment  of  a  Territorial  Legislature  by  a 
fraudulent  vote ;  its  outrageous  statute-book ;  the  sustaining 
of  the  usurpation  by  the  Federal  government ;  the  resulting 
disorder  and  violence.  Congress  was  asked  to  admit  Kan 
sas  to  the  Union  under  its  Free  State  organization.  Noth 
ing  was  said  as  to  the  fugitive  slave  law.  There  was  an 
express  disclaimer  of  any  interference  with  slavery  in  the 
States.  The  doctrine  of  the  party  was  embodied  in  a  phrase 
which  became  one  of  its  mottoes :  "  Freedom  national, 
slavery  sectional." 

For  its  Presidential  candidate  the  convention  passed  by 
all  the  well-known  political  leaders,  and  chose  Col.  John 
C.  Fremont  of  California.  Fremont,  after  a  scientific  and 
military  education,  had  distinguished  himself  by  a  series 
of  brilliant  exploring  expeditions  in  the  farthest  North 
west,  marked  by  scientific  achievement  and  stirring  adven 
ture.  Arriving  in  California  at  the  outbreak  of  hostilities 
with  Mexico,  he  rallied  and  led  the  American  settlers  and 
drove  the  Mexicans  from  the  territory.  He  took  a  leading 
part  in  organizing  the  State,  and  establishing  freedom  in  its 
Constitution ;  and  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate 
as  a  Free-Soil  Democrat.  His  term  as  Senator  was  too 
brief  to  win  eminence,  but  his  career  as  a  whole  had  been 
singularly  various  and  distinguished.  He  was  young;  he 


"  Fremont   and   Freedom "  127 

had  manly  beauty,  and  a  rare  personal  fascination.  His 
brilliant  and  charming  wife  won  favor  for  him.  Even  his 
name  gave  aid  to  the  cause,  and  "  Fremont  and  freedom  " 
became  the  rallying  cry  of  the  campaign. 

But  Fremont's  personality  was  an  altogether  minor  ele 
ment  in  the  strength  with  which  the  Republican  party  first 
took  the  field,  and  won,  not  yet  the  country,  but  the  strong 
holds  of  the  North.  The  new  party  gave  expression  and 
effect  to  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  which  had  become  so 
deep  and  wide.  It  was  wholly  dissociated  from  the  extrem 
ists  who  had  shocked  and  alarmed  the  conservatism  of  the 
country;  and  Garrison  and  Phillips  had  only  impatience 
and  scorn  for  its  principles  and  measures.  Its  leadership 
included  many  men  experienced  in  congressional  and  ad 
ministrative  life,  men  like  Seward  and  Sumner  and  Chase 
and  Wade  and  Fessenden  and  Banks,  who  had  matched 
themselves  against  the  best  leaders  of  the  South  and  the 
South's  Northern  allies.  It  brought  together  the  best  of  the 
old  Whig,  Democratic,  and  Free  Soil  parties.  In  its  rank 
and  file  it  gathered  on  the  whole  the  best  conscience  and 
intelligence  of  the  North.  After  .the  election  the  Spring 
field  Republican  pointed  out  that  the  party's  success  had 
been  exactly  along  the  geographical  lines  of  an  efficient 
free-school  system,  and  it  had  been  defeated  where  public 
schools  were  deficient,  as  in  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey, 
Indiana,  and  the  solid  South. 

The  immediate  and  burning  issue  of  the  campaign  was 
Kansas.  Whatever  the  exact  right  and  wrong  of  its  local 
broils,  there  was  no  question  of  the  broad  facts — the  fraud 
ulent  election  of  the  Legislature,  the  character  of  its 
statute-book,  and  its  support  by  President  Pierce's  adminis 
tration.  It  was  the  wrongs  of  the  Kansas  settlers  far  more 
than  the  wrongs  of  the  Southern  slaves  on  which  the  Repub 
lican  speakers  and  newspapers  dwelt.  In  truth  the  animus 


128  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

of  the  party  was  quite  as  much  the  resentment  by  the  North 
of  Southern  political  aggression  as  it  was  regard  for  the 
slaves  or  thought  of  their  future  condition.  The  policy  of 
excluding  slavery  from  the  Territories,  and  thus  naturally 
from  the  new  States,  tended  ultimately  to  its  discourage 
ment  and  probable  extinction  where  it  already  existed.  But 
any  such  result  appeared  very  remote. 

The  opposition  to  the  Republican  party  was  weighty  in 
numbers,  but  inharmonious  and  with  no  definite  creed. 
The  Democratic  platform  was  an  equivocation.  It  declared 
for  "  non-interference  by  Congress  with  slavery  in  State 
or  Territory."  But  this  left  it  an  open  question  whether 
any  one  could  "  interfere."  Could  the  people  of  a  Territory 
exclude  slavery  if  they  wished?  Or  did  the  Constitution 
protect  it  there,  as  Calhoun  and  his  followers  claimed  ?  An 
ambiguity  was  left  which  permitted  Calhoun  men  and 
Douglas  men  to  act  together  against  the  common  foe. 

The  Democratic  candidate  was  James  Buchanan  of  Penn 
sylvania.  He  was  one  of  those  men,  decent  and  respecta 
ble,  who  go  through  a  life  of  office-seeking  and  office- 
holding  without  a  particle  of  real  leadership,  and  are  for 
gotten  the  moment  they  leave  the  stage  unless  circumstance 
throws  them  into  a  place  so  responsible  as  to  reveal  their 
glaring  incompetence.  He  had  escaped  the  odium  which 
Pierce  and  Douglas  had  incurred,  through  his  absence  as 
Minister  to  England.  There  he  had  distinguished  himself 
chiefly  by  his  part  in  a  conference  at  Ostend,  in  1854, — 
incited  by  President  Pierce  and  his  Secretary  of  State, 
William  L.  Marcy  of  New  York, — where  he  had  met  Mason 
of  Virginia  and  Soule  of  Louisiana,  ministers  respectively 
to  France  and  Spain;  and  they  had  issued  a  joint  manifesto, 
declaring  that  the  possession  of  Cuba  was  necessary  to  the 
peace  and  security  of  the  United  States,  and  the  island 
should  be  obtained  from  Spain,  with  her  consent  if  possible 


"  Fremont   and    Freedom"  129 

but  without  it  if  necessary.  This  became  a  recognized 
article  in  the  Democratic  and  Southern  policy.  The 
Republican  platform  of  1856  denounced  the  Ostend  mani 
festo,  as  the  doctrine  that  "  might  makes  right,"  "  the  high 
wayman's  plea."  It  was  left  for  a  latter-day  Republican 
to  give  to  the  same  doctrine  the  politer  name  of  "  interna 
tional  eminent  domain." 

The  American  or  Know-nothing  party  nominated  ex- 
President  Fillmore  and  adopted  a  platform  inclining  toward 
the  Southern  position.  There  was  a  secession  of  a  Northern 
element,  which  nominated  Banks,  but  he  declined  and  sup 
ported  Fremont.  All  the  opponents  of  the  Republican 
party  laid  stress  on  its  sectional  character.  Both  its  candi 
dates  (for  vice-president,  William  L.  Dayton  of  New 
Jersey),  were  from  the  North;  its  creed  aimed  solely  at  the 
restriction  of  the  South's  peculiar  institution ;  south  of 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  it  had  an  electoral  ticket  in  four 
States  only — Virginia,  Maryland,  Delaware,  and  Kentucky 
— and  cast  hardly  1000  votes.  But  the  South  itself  had  so 
completely  ostracized  even  the  most  moderate  anti-slavery 
sentiment  that  free  political  action  was  impossible.  Thus, 
Professor  Hedrick  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina 
said  in  reply  to  a  question  that  he  favored  Fremont  for 
President;  and  being  denounced  for  this  by  a  newspaper, 
he  wrote  to  it  a  letter,  saying  in  a  modest  and  straightfor 
ward  way  that  he  had  made  no  attempt  to  propagate  his 
views,  but  he  did  desire  to  see  the  slaves  free.  The  students 
burned  him  in  effigy;  the  college  authorities  forced  him  to 
resign;  a  mob  attacked  him  and  he  was  driven  from  the 
State.  It  was  in  the  same  State  that  a  college  professor's 
right  to  free  speech  on  a  burning  social  question  was  vindi 
cated  by  his  students,  his  colleagues,  and  the  community, 
in  1903,  and  that  Trinity  College  became  a  leader  in 
courageous  and  progressive  sentiment  on  the  questions  of 


130  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  hour.  Few  were  the  men  bold  enough  even  to  try  the 
question  of  personal  independence  in  1856.  The  suppres 
sion  of  free  speech  was  in  itself  one  of  the  strongest  possi 
ble  arguments  for  the  Republican  cause.  The  liberty  of 
white  men  was  at  stake. 

Conservatism,  apprehension,  timidity,  in  various  phases, 
told  against  the  new  party  and  its  candidate.  Northern 
commerce  was  largely  bound  up  with  Southern  interests. 
The  threat  of  disunion  weighed  with  some;  Grant,  in  his 
memoirs,  says  it  was  this  that  led  him  to  vote  for  Buchanan. 
Others  shrank  from  trusting  the  helm  in  a  tempest  to  hands 
as  untried  as  Fremont's.  The  mob  who  hated  "  niggers  " 
swelled  the  opposition  vote.  Taking  advantage  of  the 
Know-nothing  feeling,  the  fiction  was  persistently  circu 
lated  that  Fremont  was  a  Catholic.  The  disorder  in  Kansas 
was  pacified  by  the  dispatch  of  a  new  Governor,  Geary,  to 
reassure  the  North.  Finally,  money  was  spent  on  a  scale 
unknown  before  to  defeat  the  Republican  party, — itself  in 
the  stage  of  poverty  and  virtue, — and  spent  probably  with 
decisive  effect  in  the  critical  October  election  in  Pennsyl 
vania. 

Against  these  disadvantages  the  young  party  made  head 
gallantly.  It  fired  the  youth  of  the  North  with  an  ardor 
unknown  since  the  early  days  of  the  republic.  It  inspired 
the  poets  of  the  people.  Great  crowds  sang  the  strains  of 
the  Marseillaise,  with  the  refrain: 

Free  speech,  free  press,  free  soil,  free  men,  Fremont  and  victory! 

The  older  heads  were  satisfied  by  the  moderation  and  wis 
dom  of  the  party's  principles.  The  reasonable  element 
among  the  Abolitionists  hailed  this  first  great  popular  ad 
vance,  and  allied  themselves  with  it.  Whittier  was  the 
chief  minstrel  of  the  campaign.  Of  those  to  whom  "the 


"  Fremont   and   Freedom"  '131 

Union  "  had  been  the  talismanic  word,  that  part  which 
cared  for  nothing  better  than  the  Union  as  it  was,  with 
slavery  and  freedom  mixed,  supported  Buchanan  or  Fill- 
more.  The  part  that  loved  the  Union  as  a  means  to  justice 
and  freedom  were  for  Fremont. 

The  October  elections  in  Pennsylvania  and  Indiana 
showed  that  the  first  Presidential  battle  was  lost.  Novem 
ber  confirmed  that  verdict.  New  England,  New  York, 
Ohio,  Illinois,  and  the  Northwest,  had  been  outweighed  by 
the  South  and  its  allies,  and  Buchanan  was  the  next  Presi 
dent.  But  never  was  defeat  met  with  better  courage  or 
higher  hopes  for  the  next  encounter.  Some  unknown  poet 
gave  the  battle-song: 

Beneath  thy  skies,  November, 

Thy  skies  of  cloud  and  rain, 
Around  our  blazing  camp-fires 

We  close  our  ranks  again. 
Then  sound  again  the  bugle ! 

Call  the  battle  roll  anew ! 
If  months  have  well  nigh  won  the  field 
What  may  not  four  years  do? 


CHAPTER  XV 
THREE  TYPICAL  SOUTHERNERS 

IN  the  group  of  leaders  of  public  sentiment  in  the  '303  and 
'403,  as  sketched  in  Chapter  V,  some  of  the  foremost — 
Clay,  Webster,  and  Birney — were  influential  in  both  sections 
of  the  country.  But  in  the  next  decade  the  division  is  clear 
between  the  leaders  of  the  South  and  of  the  North.  Let 
us  glance  at  two  separate  groups. 

Jefferson  Davis  was  in  many  ways  a  typical  Southerner. 
He  was  a  sincere,  able,  and  high-minded  man.  The  guiding 
aim  of  his  public  life  was  to  serve  the  community  as  he 
understood  its  interests.  Personal  ambition  seemingly  in 
fluenced  him  no  more  than  is  to  be  expected  in  any  strong 
man;  and,  whatever  his  faults  of  judgment  or  temper,  it 
does  not  appear  that  he  ever  knowingly  sacrificed  the  public 
good  to  his  own  profit  or  aggrandizement.  But  he  was 
devoted  to  a  social  system  and  a  political  theory  which 
bound  his  final  allegiance  to  his  State  and  his  section.  After 
a  cadetship  at  West  Point  and  a  brief  term  of  military  serv 
ice,  he  lived  for  eight  years,  1837-45,  on  a  Mississippi 
plantation,  in  joint  ownership  and  control  with  an  older 
brother.  In  these  early  years,  and  in  the  seclusion  of  a 
plantation,  his  theories  crystallized  and  his  mental  habits 
grew.  The  circumstances  of  such  life  fostered  in  Southern 
politicians  the  tendency  to  logical  and  symmetrical  theories, 
to  which  they  tenaciously  held,  unmodified  by  the  regard 
for  experience  which  is  bred  from  free  and  various  contact 
with  the  large  world  of  affairs.  \Davis  fully  accepted  the 
theory  of  State  sovereignty  which  won  general  favor  in  the 


Three  Typical  Southerners  133 

South.  In  this  view  the  States  were  independent  powers, 
which  had  formed  with  each  other  by  the  Constitution  a 
compact,  a  business  arrangement,  a  kind  of  limited  partner 
ship.  If  the  compact  was  broken  in  any  of  its  articles,  or  if 
its  working  proved  at  any  time  to  be  unsatisfactory  and 
injurious,  the  partners  could  withdraw  at  will.  This  theory 
found  more  or  less  support  among  the  various  utterances 
and  practices  of  the  f ramers  of  the  Constitution  and  founders 
of  the  government.  [In  truth,  they^had  as  a  body  no  con- 
sistent  and  exact  theory  of  the  Federal  bond.  Later  cir 
cumstances  led  their  descendants  to  incline  to  a  stronger 
or  a  looser  tie,  according  to  their  different  interests  and 
sentiments.  The  institution  of  slavery  so  strongly  differ 
entiated  the  Southern  communities  from  their  Northern 
neighbors,  that  they  naturally  magnified  their  local  rights 
and  favored  the  view  which  justified  them  in  the  last 
resort  in  renouncing  the  authority  of  the  Union  if  it  should 
come  to  be  exercised  against  their  industrial  system.  State 
sovereignty  was  the  creed,  and  the  slavery  interest  was  the 
motive. 

To  a  man  living  like  Davis  on  his  own  plantation,  the 
relation  of  master  and  slave  seemed  a  fundamental  condi 
tion  of  the  social  order.  Not  only  his  livelihood  rested  on 
it,  but  through  this  relation  his  practical  faculties  found 
their  field;  his  conscience  was  exercised  in  the  right  man 
agement  and  care  of  his  slaves ;  there  was  a  true  sentiment 
of  protection  on  his  side  and  loyalty  on  theirs.  His  neigh 
bors  and  friends  were  situated  like  himself.  The  inci 
dental  michiefs  of  the  system,  the  abuses  by  bad  masters, 
the  ignorance  and  low  morality  of  the  slaves, — these  things 
they  regarded,  let  us  say,  as  an  upright  and  benevolent 
manufacturer  to-day  regards  the  miseries  of  sweatshops 
and  the  sufferings  of  unemployed  labor.  Such  things  were 
bad,  very  bad,  but  they  were  the  accidents  and  not  the  essen- 


134    -          The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

tials  of  the  industrial  system.  They  resented  the  strictures 
of  their  critics;  they  were  apprehensive  of  the  growing 
hostility  in  the  North  to  their  institutions;  if  the  national 
partnership  was  to  last  they  must  have  their  rights  under 
it ;  and  one  of  those  rights  was  an  equal  share  in  the  national 
domain. 

Davis  entered  into  active  politics  when  he  was  elected  to 
Congress  in  1844.  Repudiation  was  then  in  favor  in  Mis 
sissippi,  and  he  opposed  and  denounced  it.  He  supported 
the  Mexican  War  in  the  most  practical  way,  by  taking  com 
mand  of  a  volunteer  regiment  from  Mississippi.  He  served 
with  distinguished  gallantry,  and  was  severely  wounded  at 
Buena  Vista.  After  the  war  he  entered  the  United  States 
Senate.  He  supported  the  compromise  of  1850,  regarding 
it  as  substantially  a  continuance  of  the  truce  between  the 
sections,  and  not  now  sympathizing  with  those  who  threat 
ened  disunion.  Later,  President  Pierce  made  him  Secre 
tary  of  War ;  in  the  Cabinet  he  was  the  leading  spirit ;  and 
this,  with  a  weak  President,  meant  large  power  and  respon 
sibility.  He  showed  the  extent  of  his  partisanship  by  sup 
porting  with  the  full  power  of  the  administration  the  Terri 
torial  government  imposed  on  Kansas  by  a  palpably  fraud 
ulent  vote. 

'  In  1856  he  returned  to  the  Senate,  and  came  to  be  recog 
nized  as  the  foremost  champion  of  the  Southern  interest. 
He  was  not  a  leader  in  any  such  sense  as  Jefferson  or 
Clay  or  Calhoun;  but  he  was  a  representative  man, 
thoroughly  trusted  by  his  associates,  their  most  effective 
spokesman,  and  going  by  conviction  in  the  midstream  of 
the  dominant  tendency.  He  had  that  degree  of  ambition 
which  is  natural  and  normal  in  a  strong  man.  He  was  an 
effective  and  elegant  orator.  When  secession  came  he  was 
not  its  originator,  but  one  of  a  set  of  men — on  the  whole 
the  most  considerate  and  influential  men  of  the  Gulf  and 


Three  Typical  Southerners  135 

cotton  States — who  took  the  responsibility  of  leading  their 
section  into  revolution,  in  the  interest  of  slavery. 

In  this  typical  Southern  leader,  as  in  his  class,  were 
blended  the  elements  of  a  disposition  and  will  that  would 
halt  before  no  barrier  to  its  claim  of  mastery.  A  slave 
holder,  accustomed  to  supremacy  over  his  fellowmen  as 
their  natural  superior ;  a  planter,  habituated  to  the  practical 
exercise  of  such  supremacy  over  hundreds  of  dependents ; 
a  member  of  an  aristocracy,  the  political  masters  of  their 
section,  and  long  the  dominant  force  in  the  nation  ;  a  theorist, 
wedded  to  the  dogma  of  State  sovereignty,  and  convinced 
of  the  superiority  of  Southern  civilization ;  the  self-confident 
and  self-asserting  temper  bred  by  such  conditions — here 
was  a  union  of  forces  that  would  push  its  cause  against 
all  opposition,  at  the  cost  if  need  be  of  disunion,  of  war,  of 
all  obstacles  and  all  perils. 

By  a  natural  exaggeration,  at  a  later  time  the  President 
of  the  Confederacy  was  regarded  at  the  North  as  the  very 
embodiment  of  its  cause.  To  the  unmeasured  hostility  on 
this  account  was  added  the  opprobrium  of  deeds  in  which 
he  had  no  part.  He  was  charged  for  a  time  with  com 
plicity  in  the  murder  of  Lincoln.  He  was  branded  with  re 
sponsibility  for  the  miseries  in  Andersonville  and  the  other 
prison-pens  in  the  war, — but  without  a  particle  of  evidence. 
Admiration  was  yielded  by  the  North  to  Stonewall  Jack 
son  even  in  his  life-time;  there  was  early  recognition  of 
Lee's  magnanimous  acceptance  of  defeat;  but  the  bitterest 
odium  was  long  visited  upon  Davis.  It  was  heightened  by 
the  tenacity  with  which  his  intense  nature  clung  to  "  the 
lost  cause  "  as  a  sentiment,  after  the  reality  was  hopelessly 
buried.  The  South  itself  gave  its  highest  favor  to  Lee, 
its  most  effective  defender,  and  a  man  of  singularly  impres 
sive  character;  while  Davis's  mistakes  of  administration, 
and  his  reserved  and  over-sensitive  temper  chilled  a  little 


136  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  recognition  of  his  disinterested  and  loyal  service.  But 
in  the  retrospect  of  history  he  stands  out  as  an  honorable 
and  pathetic  figure.  The  single  warping  influence  of  his 
whole  career  was  the  mistake  he  shared  with  millions  of 
his  countrymen, — the  acceptance  and  exaltation  of  slavery. 
He  was  faithful  to  his  convictions ;  he  was  free  from  covet- 
ousness  and  meanness;  and  in  his  personality  there  were 
high  and  fine  elements  of  manhood.  "  A  very  intense  man 
and  a  very  lovable  man  "  was  the  judgment  of  one  who  was 
his  intimate  associate  through  the  war. 

"  Love  of  power  was  so  much  weaker  in  him  than  love 
of  his  theories  that  when  Congress  passed  laws  enlarging 
his  prerogatives  he  wrote  long  messages  declining  them  on 
constitutional  grounds."  A  friend  described  him  as  "  a 
game-cock — with  just  a  little  strut."  Said  one  who  stood 
in  close  relations  with  him :  "  He  was  so  sensitive  to  criti 
cism  and  even  to  questioning  that  I  have  passed  months 
of  intimate  official  association  with  him  without  venturing 
to  ask  him  a  question."  Pure  in  his  personal  morals,  but 
never  having  made  a  religious  profession,  under  the  respon 
sibilities  of  the  Presidency  he  turned  for  support  to  reli 
gion,  and  was  confirmed  in  the  Episcopal  Church.  Under 
imprisonment,  indignities,  obloquy,  long  seclusion  with  the 
memories  of  a  ruined  cause,  he  bore  himself  with  manly 
fortitude  and  dignity.  Schooled  by  inexorable  reality,  he 
finally  acquiesced  in  the  established  order,  and  his  last 
public  words  were  of  fidelity  and  faith  for  the  new  America. 

Before  the  war,  Robert  Toombs  of  Georgia  played  some 
such  part  to  the  Northern  imagination  as  Phillips  or  Sumner 
to  the  Southern.  He  was  regarded  as  the  typical  fire-eater 
and  braggart.  He  was  currently  reported  to  have  boasted 
that  he  would  yet  call  the  roll  of  his  slaves  at  the  foot  of 
Bunker  Hill  monument.  But  in  truth  this  ogre  was  made 
of  much  the  same  human  clay  as  the  Massachusetts  Aboli- 


Three  Typical  Southerners  137 

tionists.  He  is  well  pictured,  together  with  Alexander  H. 
Stephens  of  Georgia,  in  Trent's  Southern  Statesmen  of 
the  Old  Regime, — a  book  admirable  in  its  spirit  and  its 
historic  fidelity.  Both  Toombs  and  Stephens  represented, 
as  compared  with  Davis,  the  more  moderate  sentiment  of 
the  South,  until  they  parted  company  with  each  other  on 
the  question  of  secession.  Trent  prefaces  the  companion 
portraits  with  a  sketch  of  the  typical  Georgian ;  his  State, 
like  the  other  Gulf  States,  less  civilized  and  orderly  than 
Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  less  critical  and  more  enthu 
siastic  ;  the  Georgian,  "  the  southern  Yankee,"  "  loving  suc 
cess,  strength,  straightforwardness,  and  the  solid  virtues 
generally,  neither  is  he  averse  to  the  showy  ones ;  but  above 
all  he  loves  virtue  in  action."  Among  Southerners,  says 
Trent,  the  Georgian  is  nearest  to  a  normal  American. 
Toombs  inherited  property;  grew  up  like  other  Southern 
boys  of  the  prosperous  class ;  rode  and  hunted  and  studied 
a  little  in  the  interims.  As  a  lawyer,  he  would  not  take  a 
case  unless  satisfied  of  its  justice.  He  was  of  robust 
physique,  vigorous  intellect,  and  high  spirits;  and  he  was 
happy  in  his  family  life. 

Stephens  worked  his  way  up  from  poverty,  and  never  lost 
an  active  sympathy  with  the  struggling.  He  helped  more 
than  fifty  young  men  to  get  an  education.  He  was  of  a 
slight  and  fragile  frame,  and  had  much  physical  suffering, 
which  he  bore  with  indomitable  courage.  His  conscien 
tiousness  was  almost  morbid.  His  temperament  was  melan 
choly,  and  his  life  was  lonely.  In  early  life  he  was  twice  in 
love,  but  poverty  forbade  his  marriage.  He  was  a  clear 
and  logical  thinker,  much  given  to  refined  exposition  of 
constitutional  theories,  but  deficient  in  large  culture  and 
philosophy.  He  held  the  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty,  but 
from  first  to  last  he  opposed  secession  as  against  the  true 
interest  of  the  States.  At  the  beginning  of  his  career  he 


138  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

was  active  in  opposing  the  vigilance  committees  organized 
to  harry  anti-slavery  men.  He  supported  the  annexation 
of  Texas,  though  objecting  to  doing  it  in  the  interest  of 
slavery, — slavery,  he  said,  was  a  domestic  matter,  which 
the  Federal  government  had  no  call  to  take  care  of.  He 
and  Toombs  generally  stood  together,  as  Whigs  and  Union 
ists.  They  opposed  the  Mexican  War,  on  the  ground  that 
the  Union  was  not  to  be  extended  by  force ;  neither,  they 
both  said  later,  was  it  to  be  maintained  by  force.  But  they 
opposed  the  exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  Territories  by 
the  Wilmot  proviso;  and  in  the  debate  Stephens  declared 
that  the  morality  of  slavery  stood  "  upon  a  basis  as  firm  as 
the  Bible,"  and  as  long  as  Christianity  lasted  it  could  never 
be  considered  an  offense  against  the  divine  laws.  The  two 
men  did  yeoman's  service  in  carrying  through  the  1850  com 
promise,  and  afterward  in  persuading  Georgia  not  to  take 
part  in  the  Nashville  convention — a  disunionist  scheme 
which  proved  abortive.  They,  with  Howell  Cobb,  held 
Georgia  for  the  compromise  and  for  the  Union,  and  thus 
fixed  the  pivotal  point  of  Southern  politics  for  the  next 
decade.  They  became  leaders  in  the  Constitutional  Union 
party,  which,  in  Georgia,  succeeded  the  Whig.  They  made 
vigorous  and  successful  fights  against  the  Know-nothing 
folly.  They  accepted  the  gains  which  came  to  the  South 
through  Douglas's  breaking  down  of  the  Missouri  compro 
mise,  and,  a  little  later,  the  Dred  Scott  decision  of  the 
Supreme  Court;  but  they  diverged  from  Davis,  by  not 
favoring  the  active  intervention  of  Congress  to  protect 
slavery  in  the  Territories.  Toombs  was  accused  of  abetting 
Brooks's  attack  on  Sumner,  which  he  disclaimed;  but  he 
found  nothing  to  hinder  his  taking  part  in  a  banquet  in 
Brooks's  honor  a  few  months  later,  and  on  this  most  ill- 
omened  occasion  he  joined  in  the  threats  of  disunion  if  Fre 
mont  should  be  elected.  But  still  the  catastrophe  lingered, 


Three  Typical  Southerners  139 

and  seemed  improbable.  Stephens  left  Congress  in  1858. 
Two  years  more,  and  secession  became  a  burning  question ; 
Stephens  and  Toombs  took  opposite  sides,  but,  the  issue  de 
cided,  they  both  made  common  cause  with  their  State. 
Toombs  served  in  the  Confederate  Cabinet  and  Army. 
Stephens,  vice-president  of  the  Confederacy,  seven  years 
after  the  close  of  the  war  again  became  a  member  of  the 
House;  an  attenuated  figure,  confined  to  a  wheel-chair,  but 
still  vital  and  vigorous;  respected  by  all;  his  presence  a 
visible  symbol  of  the  spanning  of  "  the  bloody  chasm." 


CHAPTER  XVI 

SOME  NORTHERN  LEADERS 

TURNING  now  to  the  North,  the  principal  leaders  in  its 
political  life  have  already  been  mentioned,  except  Lincoln, 
whose  star  had  not  yet  risen ;  but  it  is  worth  while  to  glance 
at  some  of  those  who,  apart  from  Congress  and  public  office, 
were  molding  public  sentiment.  Perhaps  the  man  of  the 
widest  influence  on  public  opinion  was  Horace  Greeley. 
Through  his  New  York  Tribune  he  reached  an  immense 
audience,  to  a  great  part  of  whom  the  paper  was  a  kind  of 
political  Bible.  His  words  struck  home  by  their  common 
sense,  passion,  and  close  sympathy  with  the  common  people. 
A  graduate  of  the  farm  and  printing  office,  he  was  in  close 
touch  with  the  free,  plain,  toiling,  American  people,  and 
in  no  man  had  they  a  better  representative  or  a  more  effec 
tive  advocate.  There  was  in  him  something  of  John  Bright's 
sturdy  manhood,  direct  speech  and  devotion  to  human  rights ; 
something,  too,  of  Franklin's  homely  shrewdness, — though 
little  of  Franklin's  large  philosophy  or  serenity.  He  was  at 
first  a  Henry  Clay  Whig,  and  always  a  zealous  protectionist ; 
then  in  alliance  with  the  anti-slavery  element  in  the  party, 
and  soon  the  leading  Republican  editor.  He  was  a  lover  of 
peace,  in  active  sympathy  with  social  reforms,  sometimes 
betrayed  into  extravagances,  but  generally  guarded  by  his 
common  sense  against  extremists  and  impracticables.  His 
limitations  were  a  want  of  large  culture,  a  very  uncertain 
judgment  in  estimating  men,  and  a  temperament  liable  to 
such  sudden  ebb  and  flow  that  he  fell  sometimes  into  rash 
ness  and  sometimes  into  panic.  But  he  was  disinterested 

140 


Some  Northern  Leaders  141 

and  great-hearted.  Other  men  broadened  the  Tribune's 
scope ;  its  editorial  tone  was  for  its  audience  persuasive  and 
convincing;  and  the  Tribune  was  one  of  the  great  educa 
tional  influences  of  the  country.  Beside  it  stood  the  New 
York  Times,  edited  by  Henry  J.  Raymond,  an  advocate  of 
moderate  anti-slavery  and  Republican  principles,  with  less 
of  masterful  leadership  than  the  Tribune,  but  sometimes 
better  balanced ;  and  the  Herald,  under  the  elder  James  Gor 
don  Bennett,  devoted  to  news  and  money-making,  and  pan 
dering  to  Southern  interests. 

The  clergy  at  the  South  were  by  this  time  generally  united 
in  the  defense  of  slavery.  At  the  North,  there  was  great 
variety  among  them.  Many  ministers  ignored  slavery  as 
apart  from  their  province.  Many  spoke  of  it  occasionally 
as  a  sin,  but  regarded  it  as  little  concerned  with  that  daily 
life  of  their  people  which  was  their  main  concern.  A  few 
treated  it  as  a  great  national  wrong,  speaking  such  de 
nunciation  as  the  Hebrew  prophets  gave  to  the  national 
sins  of  their  people  ;  and  of  these  some  were  driven  from  their 
pulpits.  A  few  expressed  open  sympathy  or  apology  for 
slavery, — such  as  Dr.  Nehemiah  Adams,  of  Boston,  and 
Bishop  Hopkins,  of  Vermont. 

The  foremost  preacher  in  America  was  Henry  Ward 
Beecher.  He  was  above  all  things  a  preacher, — charged 
with  a  great  spiritual  message ;  of  extraordinary  and  various 
eloquence,  dramatic,  inspiring,  thrilling ;  impelled  and  some 
times  controlled  by  a  wonderful  imagination.  He  was 
taking  a  leading  part  in  transforming  the  popular  belief. 
Theology  has  radically  altered  under  two  influences, — the 
new  view  of  facts  given  by  science,  and  a  higher  ethical  and 
spiritual  feeling.  It  was  under  the  ethical  and  spiritual 
impulse  that  Beecher  so  altered  the  emphasis  of  the  tradi 
tional  theology,  so  dwelt  on  the  love  of  God,  on  Christ's 
character  as  the  revelation  of  God,  on  the  opportunities  and 


142  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

incitements  of  daily  life,  on  all  the  hopeful  and  joyful 
aspects  of  existence, — that  in  the  minds  of  his  hearers  the 
harsher  elements,  not  only  of  Calvinism,  but  of  the  whole 
traditional  orthodoxy,  melted  as  imperceptibly  and  steadily 
as  icebergs  melt  when  they  drift  southward.  He  always 
avoided  any  avowed  or  precipitate  break  with  the  old  sys 
tem  of  dogma, — partly  from  a  personal  sentiment  associated 
with  the  faith  of  the  fathers ;  partly  from  an  instinctive 
preference  of  practical  and  emotional  over  intellectual 
methods ;  and  partly  from  a  studied  regard  to  the  most 
effective  results, — a  shrewdness  which  tempered  his  im 
petuosity. 

In  these  stirring  days  Beecher  began  to  take  active  part 
in  political  discussion, — rarely  in  his  pulpit,  but  as  an  occa 
sional  speaker  at  political  meetings,  or  as  a  writer  in  the 
New  York  Independent.  His  ground  was  that  of  moderate 
anti-slavery  and  Republicanism.  Shut  off  on  the  political 
platform  from  the  highest  flights  of  his  pulpit  oratory,  he 
yet  had  large  scope  for  his  ideality,  his  common  sense,  his 
rich  and  abounding  humor,  his  marvelous  range  of  illus 
tration  from  all  things  in  earth  and  heaven.  As  the  public 
questions  of  the  day  came  still  closer  home  to  the  business 
and  bosoms  of  men,  he  dealt  with  them  more  freely  in  his 
preaching,  though  never  to  the  subordination  of  the  personal 
religious  life  as  the  paramount  interest.  One  scene  in  his 
church  comes  vividly  to  mind;  after  the  sermon,  he  stated 
the  case  of  a  little  slave  girl,  allowed  to  come  North  on  the 
chance  of  her  being  ransomed ;  and  after  a  few  moving 
words,  he  set  her  beside  him — a  beautiful,  unconscious 
child — and  money  rained  into  the  contribution  boxes  till  in 
a  few  minutes  the  amount  was  raised,  and  the  great  congre 
gation  joined  in  a  triumphant  closing  hymn. 

Of  a  different  type  was  Theodore  Parker.  He  stood  in 
his  pulpit,  the  embodiment  of  courageous  attack  on  every 


Some  Northern  Leaders  143 

falsehood  and  abuse  as  it  appeared  to  the  lofty  and  luminous 
mind  of  the  preacher.  With  his  prophecy  there  mingled  no 
expediency.  He  spoke  the  truth  as  he  saw  it,  and  let  con 
sequences  take  care  of  themselves.  For  a  generation,  the 
Unitarian  ministers  had  denied  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
but  they  held  the  founder  of  Christianity  in  such  reverence 
that  they  would  scarcely  define  his  divine  or  semi-divine 
nature.  Parker  spoke  frankly  of  Jesus  as  a  man,  and  a 
man  liable  to  imperfections  and  mistakes,  while  he  honored 
him  as  the  greatest  leader  of  humanity.  The  Unitarians, — 
their  intellectual  radicalism  kept  well  in  check  by  the  con 
servatism  natural  to  their  social  and  ecclesiastical  tradi 
tions, — had  held  to  a  decided  supernaturalism.  Parker  put 
religion  on  a  purely  natural  basis,  and  sent  home  to  men's 
consciousness  the  ideas  of  God  and  immortal  life.  His  ser 
mons  were  iconoclastic,  but  his  prayers  were  full  of  rever 
ence,  aspiration,  and  tenderness.  He  was  ostracized  by 
most  of  the  Unitarian  churches,  and  dreaded  by  the  ortho 
dox,  but  he  was  a  power  in  Boston  and  in  America.  He 
attacked  social  wrongs  as  fearlessly  as  he  discussed  theology. 
Against  slavery  he  struck  as  with  a  battle  ax.  He  was  not 
greatly  concerned  with  constitutions  or  tolerant  of  compro 
mises.  When  a  fugitive  slave  was  seized  in  Boston,  Parker 
took  active  part  in  a  project  of  rescue.  He  roused  the 
conscience  of  New  England  and  the  North.  He  died  at 
fifty,  just  before  the  Civil  War,  consumed  by  his  own  fire. 

The  fable  of  the  traveler  who  clung  the  closer  to  his 
cloak  when  the  wind  tried  to  strip  it  off  but  cast  it  aside 
when  addressed  by  the  sun's  genial  warmth,  had  an  illus 
tration  in  the  many  who  surrendered  their  prejudice  and 
selfishness,  not  at  the  bidding  of  the  stormy  reformers,  but 
touched  by  the  serene  light  of  Emerson.  Emerson's  specific 
influence  on  slavery  or  any  other  social  problem  is  hard  to 
measure,  for  his  power  was  thrown  on  the  illumination  and 


144  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

inspiration  of  the  individual  man.  But  in  the  large  view 
his  was  an  incomparable  influence  in  diffusing  that  temper 
of  mingled  courage  and  sweetness,  the  idealist's  vision  and 
the  soldier's  valor,  which  is  the  world's  best  help  and  hope. 
He  spoke  out  against  slavery  whenever  he  saw  that  his 
word  was  needed ;  he  vindicated  the  right  of  the  Abolition 
ists  to  free  speech,  whether  they  spoke  wisely  or  not ;  and  in 
some  of  his  poems,  as  the  "  Concord  Ode,"  and  "  Boston 
Hymn,"  he  thrillingly  invoked  the  best  of  the  Puritan  and 
Revolutionary  temper  to  right  the  wrongs  of  the  present. 
It  was  said  of  him  that  he  gave  to  the  war  for  the  Union, 
"  not  one  son,  but  a  thousand."  But  he  also  gave  watch 
words  that  will  long  outlast  the  issues  of  the  war  and  our 
issues  of  to-day.  The  homely  yet  soaring  idealism  of  the 
true  American  will  always  answer  to  the  word,  "  Hitch 
your  wagon  to  a  star." 

The  group  of  writers  who  gave  brilliancy  to  this  period 
have  already  been  cited  as  champions  of  freedom.  Most 
effective  in  his  advocacy  was  Whittier,  who,  in  early  days, 
took  active  part  in  politics  as  a  Free  Soiler,  and  after 
ward  did  greater  service  by  the  lyrics  of  freedom,  which 
like  his  songs  of  labor  and  poems  of  home  life  and  religion, 
went  to  the  heart  of  the  common  people  as  no  other  American 
voice  has  done.  One  who  reads  Whittier  to-day  may  be 
allowed  to  wish  that  he  had  known  the  sunny  as  well  as  the 
shady  side  of  Southern  life ;  and  that,  as  in  a  later  poem  he 
softened  his  fierce  criticism  on  Webster,  so  he  had  celebrated 
the  virtues  and  graces  of  his  white  countrymen  below  the 
Potomac  and  the  Ohio,  as  well  as  the  wrongs  of  his  black 
countrymen.  Lowell,  usually  a  scholarly  poet,  spoke  to  the 
common  people  nobly  for  peace  and  freedom  in  the  Biglow 
Papers.  In  1857  the  Atlantic  Monthly  was  started  under 
his  editorship,  the  organ  at  once  of  the  highest  literary 
ability  of  New  England,  and  of  pronounced  anti-slavery 


Some  Northern  Leaders  145 

and  Republican  sentiment.  After  he  gave  up  the  editorship 
in  1862,  he  wrote  at  intervals  of  a  few  years  the  second  series 
of  Biglow  Papers,  and  his  "  Commemoration  Ode  "  was  the 
noblest  literary  monument  of  the  triumph  of  Union  and 
freedom. 

Longfellow's  main  vocation  was  away  from  the  turmoils 
of  the  hour.  He  interpreted  to  America  the  art,  the  culture, 
the  legends  of  Europe  and  the  Middle  Ages;  he  found  the 
poetry  in  the  early  soil  of  America,  as  in  "  Hiawatha"  and 
"  Evangeline."  He  was  not  deaf  to  the  wrongs  of  the  slave, 
and  gave  to  them  some  touching  poems.  But  his  finest  con 
tribution  to  the  national  idea  was  the  apostrophe  to  the  Union 
which  crowns  "  The  Building  of  the  Ship."  It  was  written 
in  1849,  m  the  stress  of  the  struggle  over  California,  and 
it  may  well  last  as  long  as  the  nation  lasts.  The  poem  is  an 
idyl  of  the  ship-building  folk  and  the  sea ;  the  consummation 
is  the  bridal  of  the  captain  and  the  builder's  daughter,  and 
the  launching  of  the  ship,  christened  "  The  Union  " — emblem 
of  the  wife's  and  husband's  voyage  begun  together  on  the 
sea  of  life ;  then, — 


Thou,  too,  sail  on,  O  Ship  of  State! 
Sail  on,  O  Union,  strong  and  great! 
Humanity  with  all  its  fears, 
With  all  the  hopes  of  future  years, 
Is  hanging  breathless  on  thy  fate ! 
We  know  what  Master  laid  thy  keel, 
What  workmen  wrought  thy  ribs  of  steel, 
Who  made  each  mast,  and  sail,  and  rope, 
What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat, 
In  what  forge  and  what  a  heat 
Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope ! 
Fear  not  each  sudden  sound  and  shock, 
'Tis  of  the  wave  and  not  the  rock; 
'Tis  but  the  flapping  of  the  sail, 
And  not  a  rent  made  by  the  galel 


146  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

In  spite  of  rock  and  tempest's  roar, 

In  spite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore, 

Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea! 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  are  all  with  thee. 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 

Our  faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 

Are  all  with  thee,— are  all  with  theel 


CHAPTER  XVII 

DRED  SCOTT  AND  LECOMPTON 

UNDER  Buchanan's  administration,  1857-61,  three  events 
befell  which  were  like  wedges  riving  farther  and  farther 
apart  the  national  unity.  They  were  the  Dred  Scott  decis 
ion  by  the  Supreme  Court,  the  Lecompton  constitution  in 
Kansas,  and  John  Brown's  raid- at  Harper's  Ferry. 

President  Buchanan  declared  in  his  inaugural  that  the 
people  of  a  Territory  had  a  right  to  shape  their  institutions 
in  their  own  way,  but  as  to  how  far  that  right  extended 
before  they  organized  as  a  State,  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court  was  the  proper  arbiter.  Two  days  after  the  inaugural, 
the  Supreme  Court  announced  its  decision,  in  a  case  made 
up  expressly  to  test  the  status  of  slavery  in  the  Territories. 
Suit  was  brought  before  it  to  obtain  freedom  for  Dred  Scott, 
who  being  held  as  a  slave  in  Missouri  had  been  taken  by  his 
master  to  reside  for  a  time  in  Illinois,  and  afterward  at  Fort 
Snelling  in  unorganized  territory  north  of  36  degrees  30 
minutes,  and  so  free  under  the  Missouri  compromise.  It 
was  claimed  that  by  being  taken  upon  free  soil,  in  State  or 
Territory,  he  became  free.  The  court,  in  an  elaborate  opin 
ion  delivered  by  Chief- Justice  Taney,  dismissed  the  case 
for  want  of  jurisdiction,  on  the  ground  that  no  person  of 
slave  descent  or  African  blood  could  be  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  or  be  entitled  to  sue  in  its  courts.  The  court 
affirmed  that  the  sweeping  language  of  the  Declaration,  that 
"  all  men  are  born  free,"  had  no  application  to  negroes, 
because  at  that  time  they  were  generally  regarded  "  as  so 

i47 


148  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

far  inferior  that  they  had  no  rights  which  the  white  man 
was  bound  to  respect."  The  case  being  thus  thrown  out  of 
court,  all  further  discussion  of  its  merits  was  superfluous — 
a  mere  obiter  dictum,  without  legal  force.  Nevertheless, 
the  court  through  its  chief-justice  went  on  to  pronounce 
upon  the  plaintiff's  claim  and  declare  it  baseless ;  on  the 
ground  that  inasmuch  as  a  slave  was  lawful  property,  and 
the  Constitution  decreed  that  no  man  should  be  deprived 
of  his  property  without  due  process  of  law,  therefore  an  act 
of  Congress  declaring  in  effect  that  when  carried  beyond 
a  certain  line  a  slave  was  lost  to  his  master,  was  unconstitu 
tional  and  void.  Thus  the  court  set  aside  as  invalid  the 
exclusion  of  slavery  from  the  Territories  by  Congress.  As 
to  the  effect  of  a  slave's  residence  in  a  free  State  by  his 
master's  act,  followed  by  a  return  to  a  slave  State, — the  court 
held  that  this  question  belonged  properly  to  the  Missouri 
courts,  which  had  decided  against  the  slave's  claim. 

Two  of  the  justices,  McLean  and  Curtis  (Northern 
Whigs),  dissented  emphatically  from  the  decision.  Justice 
Curtis  pointed  out,  as  to  the  alleged  incapacity  of  the  negro 
for  citizenship  at  the  era  of  the  Constitution,  that  at  that 
period  free  negroes  had  the  right  of  suffrage  in  five  of 
the  thirteen  States.  As  to  the  argument  against  depriving  a 
man  of  his  property,  the  contention  of  the  Republicans  was 
that  slaves  were  property,  not  by  the  common  usage  of 
mankind,  but  only  by  local  law,  and  that  when  a  slaveholder 
moved  into  a  Territory  he  did  not  carry  with  him  that  local 
law  by  which  alone  a  man  could  be  held  as  a  chattel.  But 
the  authoritative  voice  of  the  highest  court  in  the  land  had 
proclaimed  these  amazing  propositions, — that  the  guarantee 
of  freedom  to  the  Northwest,  which  the  nation  had  accepted 
for  a  third  of  a  century,  was  invalid,,  and  that  no  person 
with  negro  blood  had  anjf  civil  rights  as  a  citizen  of  trie- 
United  States. 


Dred  Scott  and  Lecompton  149 

When,  forty  years  later,  a  law  of  Congress  establishing 
an  equitable  income  tax  was  declared  unconstitutional  by 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  a  Democratic  national  convention 
protested  against  that  decision,  the  Republican  papers  of 
the  day  denounced  the  protest  as  hardly  less  than  treason. 
But  the  Republicans  of  an  earlier  day  were  not  so  reverential 
toward  the  Supreme  Court  as  an  infallible  authority.  Could 
the  court  as  a  finality  outlaw  the  negro  from  the  common, 
rights  of  man,  and  prevent  Congress  from  establishing 
freedom  in  the  national  domain?  Not  so  thought  the  men 
who  led  the  Republican  party  and  the  sentiment  of  the 
North.  The  New  York  Legislature,  for  example,  promptly 
enacted  that  African  descent  should  not  disqualify  from 
State  citizenship;  that  any  slave  brought  into  the  State  by 
his  master  became  free,  and  any  attempt  to  hold  him  was  a 
penal  offense.  It  passed  a  resolution  declaring  that  the 
Supreme  Court  had  lost  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the 
people.  Lincoln  said  in  his  dry  way  that  the  Republican 
party  did' not  propose  to  declare  Dred  Scott  a  free  man  (by 
the  way,  he  was  soon  manumitted  by  his  former  master's 
daughter) — but  neither  did  they  propose  to  accept  the  court's 
decision  as  a  political  rule  binding  the  voters,  or  Congress, 
or  the  President;  and  they  intended  so  to  oppose  it  as  to 
have  it  reversed  if  possible,  and  a  new  judicial  rule  estab 
lished.  vSeward  was  very  outspoken.  He  said  a  year  later, 
in  the  Senate,  "  The  people  of  the  United  States  never  can 
and  never  will  accept  principles  so  unconstitutional,  so  abhor 
rent.  Never,  never!  Let  the  court  recede.  Whether  it 
recede  or  not,  we  shall  reorganize  the  court,  and  thus  reform 
its  political  sentiment  and  practices,  and  bring  them  in 
harmony  with  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  Nature." 

The  court's  decision,  obiter  dictum  and  all,  extended  only 
to  the  power  of  Congress  over  the  Territories.  What  a  Ter 
ritorial  Legislature  might  do  by  way  of  excluding  slavery 


150  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

had  not  been  passed  on ;  and  Douglas  thus  found  room  for 
his  doctrine  of  "  popular  sovereignty."  But  as  to  just  what 
that  meant,  he  was  adroitly  non-committal,  till  the  more 
adroit  Lincoln  in  the  joint  debate  in  1858  drew  from  him 
the  statement  that  a  Territorial  Legislature  might  by  "  un 
friendly  legislation  "  practically  exclude  slavery — a  com 
mittal  which  ended  his  favor  from  the  South. 

But  meanwhile  attention  was  focused  on  a  different  and 
more  concrete  question.  Buchanan  began  his  administra 
tion  with  an  effort  to  pacify  Kansas,  by  sending  a  new  gov 
ernor,  Robert  J.  Walker,  of  Mississippi,  with  strong 
pledges  from  the  President  that  the  people  should  have  fair 
dealing.  But  the  situation  was  badly  complicated.  The 
Legislature  had  provided  for  a  convention  to  frame  a  State 
Constitution.  This  was  to  be  elected  on  the  basis  of  a 
census  taken  by  the  county  officials.  But  the  Free  State  men 
having  never  recognized  this  Territorial  Legislature,  and 
having  kept  up  the  form  of  a  State  government  of  their 
own,  there  were  no  officials  to  take  the  census  and  register 
the  votes  in  fifteen  out  of  the  thirty-four  counties,  and  the 
registration  was  confined  to  the  part  of  the  Territory  lying 
convenient  for  invasion  from  Missouri.  Under  these  cir 
cumstances  the  Free  State  party  resisted  all  Governor 
Walker's  appeals  to  take  part  in  the  election,  and  the  con 
vention  was  chosen  by  a  small  vote.  It  met  at  Lecompton, 
and  drew  up  a  constitution.  One  article  provided  for  the 
exclusion  of  free  negroes,  and  another  forbade  any  amend 
ment  for  seven  years.  One  section  affirmed  ownership  of 
slaves  as  an  inviolable  right  of  property,  and  forbade  any 
adverse  legislation;  and  this  section  alone  of  the  Constitu 
tion  was  submitted  to  the  popular  vote.  A  vote  of  the 
people  was  ordered,  as  between  "  constitution  with  slavery  " 
and  "  constitution  without  slavery."  The  Free  State  men 
scouted  the  whole  proceeding,  and  refused  to  vote.  So,  by 


Dred  Scott  and  Lecompton  151 

the  form  of  a  popular  election,  the  "  constitution  with 
slavery  "  was  adopted. 

The  administration  now  gave  its  whole  strength  to  the 
admission  by  Congress  of  Kansas  with  the  Lecompton  con 
stitution.  The  same  election  that  made  Buchanan  President 
had  made  the  House  as  well  as  the  Senate  Democratic.  But 
it  was  no  longer  the  disciplined  and  docile  Democracy  of 
old.  The  proposal  to  admit  a  State  under  a  constitution  of 
which  only  a  single  article  had  been  submitted  to  even  the 
form  of  a  popular  vote,  was  too  obnoxious  for  any  but  the 
most  unflinching  partisans.  It  was  impossible  to  a  leader 
whose  watchword  was  "  popular  sovereignty." 

Douglas  broke  squarely  with  the  administration,  and 
acted  with  the  Republicans  against  the  bill.  He  came  in 
close  touch  with  their  leaders,  and  his  open  accession  to 
their  party  seemed  probable.  Meanwhile  in  the  Democratic 
party  he  had  a  small  following  in  Congress  and  a  large 
following  among  the  people.  The  struggle  in  Congress 
over  the  Lecompton  bill  was  obstinate.  Senator  Crittenden, 
of  Kentucky, — belonging  nominally  to  the  remnant  of  the 
American  party,  which  sheltered  some  of  the  moderate 
Southerners,  and  himself  one  of  their  best  leaders — pro 
posed  a  bill  submitting  the  entire  Constitution  to  a  direct 
popular  vote.  This  was  defeated  in  the  Senate,  but  passed 
by  the  House,  with  the  support  of  the  Republicans.  A  com 
mittee  of  conference  sought  for  some  agreement,  and  found 
a  singular  one:  a  bill  proposed  by  and  named  from  Mr. 
English,  a  Douglas  Democrat  from  Illinois.  It  provided 
that  the  Constitution  should  be  submitted  to  a  popular  vote ; 
if  accepted,  Kansas  was  at  once  to  become  a  State  and  re 
ceive  an  immense  land  grant;  if  rejected,  it  was  to  remain 
a  Territory  until  it  had  the  population  requisite  for  one  repre 
sentative  in  the  House, — 93,340, — and  get  no  land  grant. 
The  combination  of  a  bribe  and  a  threat  gave  an  almost 


152  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

grotesque  air  to  the  proposition.  Party  lines  were  broken 
in  the  vote ;  Douglas  and  a  part  of  his  associates  joined 
with  the  bulk  of  the  Republicans  in  opposing  the  bill;  but 
enough  of  both  sides  saw  in  it  the  best  they  could  get,  to 
win  a  majority  in  both  houses,  and  the  English  bill  became 
law,  in  April,  1858. 

In  the  previous  summer,  the  assurances  of  Governor 
Walker  and  the  advice  of  sagacious  politicians  like  Henry 
Wilson  had  induced  the  Free  State  men  to  give  up  their 
separate  organization  and  take  part  in  the  election  of  the 
Territorial  Legislature.  They  carried  the  election  by  two  to 
one.  But  again  fraud  was  attempted.  From  a  hamlet  with 
eleven  houses  was  sent  in  a  return  of  1624  votes, — the  names, 
it  was  found,  copied  in  alphabetical  order  from  a  Cincinnati 
directory;  and  from  another  district  an  equally  dishonest 
return  was  made;  and  the  two  would  have  changed  the 
majority  in  the  Legislature.  This  catastrophe  was  averted 
by  the  firmness  of  Walker,  who  threw  out  the  fraudulent 
returns.  In  this  he  was  vainly  opposed  by  the  Territorial 
chief  justice,  a  servile  partisan.  After  this  the  President 
turned  against  Walker  and  in  the  following  December 
drove  him  into  resignation.  He  protested  in  an  indignant 
letter  that  the  President  had  betrayed  and  deserted  him, 
and  that  his  policy  had  saved  the  Territory  from  civil  war 
and  brought  the  entire  people  together  for  the  first  time  in  a 
peaceable  election. 

Indeed  the  troubles  of  Kansas  were  practically  ended. 
The  people  rejected  the  Lecompton  constitution  and  its 
land  grant  by  a  heavy  majority.  They  framed  and  ratified 
a  Constitution  of  their  own  at  Wyandotte,  and  came  into 
the  Union  as  a  free  State  when  secession  had  left  the  Repub 
licans  in  full  control  of  Congress  in  the  winter  of  1860-1. 

The  accession  of  Kansas  to  the  Free  States  was  full  of 
significance.  It  was  fresh  evidence  that  in  the  actual  settle- 


Dred  Scott  and  Lecompton  153 

ment  of  the  new  country  the  inevitable  preponderance  lay 
with  free  labor.  Its  industrial  advantage  could  not  be 
overborne  by  a  hostile  national  administration,  nor  by  the 
inroads  of  aggressive  and  lawless  neighbors.  The  man 
agement  of  their  affairs  by  the  Free  State  settlers  was  a  great 
vindication  of  the  methods  of  peace.  The  guerrilla  warfare 
undertaken  by  Brown  and  his  party  had  won  no  real  ad 
vantage.  The  decisive  triumph  came  from  the  habitual  self- 
control  of  the  Free  State  men,  their  steady  refusal  to  resist 
the  Federal  authority,  and  the  sympathy  they  thus  won 
from  the  peaceful  North,  turning  at  last  the  scales  of  Con 
gressional  authority  in  their  favor.  Thus  far,  peace  and 
freedom  moved  hand  in  hand. 

The  tide  in  the  country  was  running  strongly  with  the 
Republicans.  The  alliance  with  Douglas  failed,  because  his 
price  was  the  Senatorship  from  Illinois,  and  the  Republi 
cans  of  that  State  were  "  willing  to  take  him  on  probation, 
but  not  to  make  him  the  head  of  the  church."  They  named 
Abraham  Lincoln  as  their  candidate  for  the  Senatorship, 
and  these  two  men  held  a  series  of  joint  debates  which 
fixed  the  attention  of  the  country ;  with  the  result  that  Lin 
coln  won  the  popular  majority,  but  Douglas  the  Legislature 
and  the  Senatorship.  In  the  country  at  large,  the  Republi 
cans  made  such  gains,  in  this  election  of  1858,  that  they  won 
the  control  of  the  National  House.  The  Whigs  were  de 
funct,  the  Americans  were  a  dwindling  fraction ;  the  "  Con 
stitutional  Union  "  party  held  a  number  who  sought  peace 
above  all  things ;  but  the  great  mass  divided  between  the 
Republicans  and  the  Democrats.  Douglas,  the  most  dex 
trous  of  rope-dancers,  had  regained  his  place  as  the  fore 
most  man  in  his  old  party.  The  Republicans  held  firmly 
to  their  constitutional  principles ;  but  the  depth  of  the  antag 
onism  of  the  two  industrial  systems  grew  ever  more  appar 
ent.  Lincoln  had  declared:  "A  house  divided  against 


1^4  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

itself  cannot  stand.  I  believe  this  government  cannot  endure 
permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the 
Union  to  be  dissolved,  I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall,  but 
I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all 
one  thing  or  all  the  other."  Seward,  too,  had  said :  "  The 
United  States  must  and  will,  sooner  or  later,  become  either 
entirely  a  slave-holding  or  entirely  a  free-labor  nation."  Be 
tween  the  two  systems  there  was  an  "  irrepressible  con 
flict."  But  he  added  that  he  desired  and  expected  the 
triumph  of  freedom  "  not  otherwise  than  through  the  action 
of  the  several  States,  co-operating  with  the  Federal  Govern 
ment,  and  all  acting  in  conformity  with  their  respective  con 
stitutions."  Yet  over  these  utterances  of  Lincoln  and 
Seward  some  conservatives  in  the  party  shook  their  heads, 
as  liable  to  be  misinterpreted  and  to  needlessly  alarm  the 
South.  But  men  more  radical  than  Lincoln  and  Seward 
wrere  coming  to  the  front.  Sumner  was  silenced  for  the 
time,  but  among  the  leaders  of  Massachusetts  now  appeared 
John  A.  Andrew,  her  future  war  Governor,  large-brained 
and  large-hearted.  In  this  year,  1858,  at  the  State  conven 
tion  of  which  he  was  president,  he  said,  "  I  believe  in  the 
Republican  party  because  I  believe  that  slavery,  the  servi 
tude  of  humanity,  has  no  business  to  exist  anywhere;  be 
cause  it  has  no  business  to  exist  and  no  right  to  be  sup 
ported  where  the  sun  shines  or  grass  grows  or  water  runs." 
One  of  the  sensations  of  the  time  was  a  book,  dated  1857, 
which  showed  a  rift  in  the  solid  South.  It  was  The  Im 
pending  Crisis,  by  Hinton  Rowan  Helper,  a  North  Caro 
linian  by  long  descent,  birth,  and  residence ;  the  son  of  "  a 
merciful  slave-holder  " ;  writing  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven. 
His  standpoint  was  that  of  the  non-slave-holding  Southern 
white.  "  Yankee  wives  " — so  he  begins — "  have  written  the 
most  popular  anti-slavery  literature  of  the  day.  Against 
this  I  have  nothing  to  say ;  it  is  all  well  enough  for  women 


Dred  Scott  and  Lecompton  155 

to  give  the  pictures  of  slavery ;  men  should  give  the  facts." 
His  method  is  largely  the  comparison  of  the  industrial  prog 
ress  of  the  two  sections,  and  his  chief  arsenal  is  the  United 
States  census.  North  and  South  started,  he  says,  with  the 
establishment  of  the  government  and  the  North's  abolition 
of  slavery,  with  advantage  in  soil,  climate,  rivers,  harbors, 
minerals,  forests,  etc.,  on  the  side  of  the  South,  but  in  sixty 
years  she  has  been  completely  outstripped.  He  brackets 
Virginia  and  New  York;  at  the  start,  Virginia  had  twice 
the  population  of  New  York;  now  New  York's  population 
doubles  Virginia's.  Virginia's  exports  have  been  about 
stationary  at  $3,000,000;  New  York's  have  risen  from 
$2,500,000  to  $87,000,000.  New  York  almost  trebles  Vir 
ginia  in  valuation,  even  including  slaves.  So  he  compares 
North  Carolina  and  Massachusetts ;  the  empty  port  of  Beau 
fort  and  the  teeming  one  of  Boston ;  the  northern  State  with 
a  production  from  manufactures,  mines,  and  mechanic  arts 
double  the  whole  cotton  crop  of  the  South.  So  he  com 
pares  South  Carolina  and  Pennsylvania.  Again:  Sail  down 
the  Ohio,  and  you  will  find  the  lands  on  the  right  bank 
worth  double  and  treble  those  on  the  left  bank, — slavery 
makes  all  the  difference.  The  hay  crop  of  the  free  States 
is  worth  more  in  dollars  and  cents  than  all  the  cotton, 
tobacco,  rice,  hay,  and  hemp,  in  the  slave  States.  The 
marble  and  free-stone  quarries  in  New  England  yield  more 
wealth  than  all  the  subterranean  deposits  in  the  slave  States. 
And  so  for  many  pages  he  goes  on  piling  Pelion  upon  Ossa 
with  his  figures.  He  pictures  the  South's  economic  depend 
ence  :  "  In  infancy  we  are  swaddled  in  Northern  muslin ; 
in  childhood  we  are  humored  with  Northern  gewgaws;  in 
youth,  we  are  instructed  out  of  Northern  books ;  at  the  age 
of  maturity,  we  sow  our  wild  oats  on  Northern  soil.  .  .  . 
In  the  decline  of  life  we  remedy  our  sight  with  Northern 
spectacles,  and  support  our  infirmities  with  Northern  canes ; 


156  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

in  old  age  we  are  drugged  with  Northern  physic ;  and  finally, 
when  we  die,  our  inanimate  bodies,  shrouded  in  Northern 
cambric,  are  stretched  upon  the  bier,  borne  to  the  grave 
in  a  Northern  carriage,  entombed  with  Northern  spade, 
and  memorized  with  a  Northern  slab !  " 

Land  in  the  Northern  States  averages  $28.07  an  acre  m 
value,  and  in  the  Southern  States  it  is  $5.34.  The  difference 
measures  the  robbery  committed  on  a  community  of  10,000,- 
ooo  by  the  350,000  slave-holders.  These  "  chevaliers  of 
the  lash  "  he  arraigns  with  a  rhetoric  compared  to  which 
Sumner's  and  Phillip's  words  were  pale.  The  slave-holders 
are  worse,  he  declares,  than  thieves,  for  they  steal  from  all. 
They  are  worse  than  common  murderers,  for  they  issue  to 
themselves  licenses  to  murder ;  the  slave  who  resists  may  be 
killed.  He  is  for  no  half-measures, — he  avows  himself  a 
free-soiler,  an  emancipationist,  an  abolitionist,  a  coloniza- 
tionist.  "  The  liberation  of  five  millions  of  '  poor  white 
trash/  from  the  second  degree  of  slavery,  and  of  three  mil 
lions  of  miserable  kidnaped  negroes  from  the  first  degree, 
cannot  be  accomplished  too  soon."  The  process  is  simple 
and  easy ;  emancipation  will  be  followed  by  such  an  instant 
rise  in  all  values  and  in  general  prosperity  that  the  slave 
owners  themselves  will  be  recouped.  Let  each  of  these,  he 
says,  give  to  each  slave  his  freedom  and  $60  in  money ;  half 
that  sum  will  transport  him  to  Liberia,  whither  all  should 
go.  He  foresees  the  tempest  which  his  book  will  arouse. 
"  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?  Something  dreadful 
as  a  matter  of  course  ?  Perhaps  you  will  dissolve  the  Union. 
Do  it,  if  you  dare!  Our  motto,  and  we  would  have  you 
understand  it,  is  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  perpetua 
tion  of  the  American  Union.  If  by  any  means  you  do  suc 
ceed  in  your  treasonable  attempt  to  take  the  South  out  of 
the  Union  to-day,  we  will  bring  her  back  to-morrow, — if 
she  goes  away  with  you,  she  will  return  without  you."  In 


Dred  Scott  and  Lecompton  157 

his  closing  paragraph  he  predicts  the  election  to  the  Presi 
dency  in  1860  of  some  anti-slavery  Southerner,  of  the  type 
of  Cassius  M.  Clay,  or  James  G.  Birney,  and  in  1864,  of  a 
Northerner  like  Seward  or  Sumner.  And  he  thus  concludes : 
"  Furthermore,  if  in  these  or  in  any  other  similar  cases  the 
oligarchy  do  not  quietly  submit  to  the  will  of  a  constitutional 
majority  of  the  people,  as  expressed  at  the  ballot-box,  the 
first  battle  between  freedom  and  slavery  will  be  fought  at 
home — and  may  God  defend  the  right !  " 

The  book  raised  a  tempest  of  denunciation.  The  more  it 
was  denounced  the  more  it  was  read.  It  was  easily  "  the 
best-selling  book  "  of  the  time.  The  concrete  reply  of  the 
party  criticised  was  first  to  drive  Helper  out  of  North 
Carolina.  Next  his  book  was  condemned  in  a  resolution 
proposed  at  the  opening  of  Congress  in  1859-60,  and  aimed 
especially  at  John  Sherman,  of  Ohio,  the  Republican  candi 
date  for  speaker,  who  had  signed  a  qualified  recommenda 
tion  of  the  book.  After  a  long  contest  the  Republicans 
dropped  Sherman  for  Pennington,  of  New  Jersey,  whom 
they  elected.  The  Impending  Crisis  was  a  portent  and 
an  impulse  of  the  coming  catastrophe. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

JOHN  BROWN 

ABOUT  this  time  there  was  a  revival  of  activity  in  the  slave 
trade  between  Africa  and  Cuba.  The  American  Govern 
ment  had  always  acted  half-heartedly  in  its  co-operation 
with  the  British  Government  for  the  suppression  of  this 
traffic.  Now  it  happened  that  some  British  cruisers  in  the 
West  Indies  stopped  and  examined  some  vessels  under  the 
American  flag,  suspected  of  being  slavers.  This  was  re 
sented  by  the  American  Government,  which  sent  war  ships 
to  the  scene  and  took  the  British  Government  to  task.  In 
Congress  both  parties  joined  in  denunciation  of  British 
aggression.  The  right  of  search,  exercised  by  England  for 
the  reclamation  of  her  seamen  from  American  vessels,  had 
been  one  of  the  grounds  of  war  in  1812.  It  had  been  left 
unmentioned  in  the  treaty  of  peace,  but  England  had  silently 
relinquished  the  practice.  Now,  at  the  demand  of  the  United 
States,  she  expressly  relinquished  the  right  of  search  in  the 
case  of  supposed  slave  ships  under  the  American  flag,  unless 
the  result  should  justify  the  suspicion.  Thus  the  honor 
of  the  Stars  and  Stripes  was  vindicated, — and  the  flag  was 
made  a  great  convenience  to  slavers.  The  administration, 
however,  bestirred  itself  toward  doing  its  own  share  in  the 
work  of  sea-police,  and  several  slave  ships  were  captured. 
The  crew  of  one  of  these  were  acquitted,  by  a  Charleston 
jury,  against  the  clearest  evidence.  There  was  some  open 
talk  in  the  Southern  papers  of  legalizing  the  traffic.  But 
the  trade  was  destined  to  a  discouraging  check  a  year  or 

158 


John  Brown  159 

two  later,  when  President  Lincoln  signed  the  first  death 
warrant  of  the  captain  of  a  slaver. 

After  the  Kansas  troubles  had  subsided,  John  Brown 
sought  some  way  to  make  a  direct  attack  on  slavery.  For 
many  years  he  had  brooded  on  the  matter,  in  the  light  of  his 
reading  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  he  felt  himself  called  to 
assail  it  as  the  Jewish  heroes  assailed  the  enemies  of  Jehovah 
and  his  people.  As  early  as  1847  ne  na^  disclosed  to  Fred 
erick  Douglass,  during  a  visit  to  Brown's  home  in  Spring 
field,  Mass.,  a  plan  for  freeing  the  slaves.  He  did  not  con 
template  a  general  insurrection  and  slaughter.  But  he  pro- 
Dtfsed  to  establish  a  fugitive  refuge  in  the  chain  of  moun 
tains  stretching  from  the  border  of  New  York  toward  the 
Gulf.  "  These  mountains,"  he  said,  "  are  the  basis  of  my 
plan.  God  has  given  the  strength  of  the  hills  to  freedom ; 
they  were  placed  here  for  the  emancipation  of  the  negro 
race;  they  are  full  of  natural  forts,  where  one  man  for 
defense  will  be  equal  to  one  hundred  for  attack;  they  are 
full  also  of  good  hiding-places,  where  large  numbers  of 
brave  men  could  be  concealed,  and  baffle  and  elude  pursuit 
for  a  long  time.  .  .  .  The  true  object  to  be  sought  is, 
first  of  all,  to  destroy  the  money-value  of  slave  property ; 
and  that  can  only  be  done  by  rendering  such  property  in 
secure.  My  plan,  then,  is  to  take  at  first  about  twenty-five 
picked  men,  and  begin  on  a  small  scale ;  supply  them  arms 
and  ammunition,  and  post  them  in  squads  of  five  on  a  line 
of  twenty-five  miles.  The  most  persuasive  and  judicious 
of  them  shall  then  go  down  to  the  fields  from  time  to  time, 
|  as  opportunity  offers,  and  induce  the  slaves  to  join  them, 
I  seeking  and  selecting  the  most  restless  and  daring." 

It  was  substantially  this  plan  to  which  Brown  now  re 
turned,  and  he  sought  aid  among  those  men  at  the  East  who 
I  had  backed  the  Free  State  cause  in  Kansas.     He  was  not 
known  to  them,  as  he  has  been  presented  to  the  reader,  as 


160  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  chief  actor  in  the  Pottawatomie  massacre,  but  as  a  bold 
guerrilla  chief,  who  had  lost  a  son  in  the  Kansas  strife.  Even 
so,  he  was  a  recognized  dissenter  from  the  peace  policy 
which  had  finally  won  success  for  freedom  in  the  Territory. 
But  there  were  men  in  the  anti-slavery  ranks  who  were  im 
patient  of  the  whole  policy  of  peace,  and  the  impressive 
personality  of  Brown  won  some  of  these  to  active  support 
of  his  project.  Among  them  were  Theodore  Parker,  Gerritt 
Smith,  Dr.  S.  G.  Howe,  George  L.  Stearns,  Thomas  Went- 
worth  Higginson,  and  Franklin  B.  Sanborn,  who  formed  a 
secret  committee  to  forward  this  plan.  They  were  not  in 
formed  of  its  details,  but  knew  its  general  scope.  To  a  con 
siderable  number  Brown  was  known  as  a  hero  of  past  rights 
and  not  averse  to  fresh  ones.  He  visited  Concord,  where 
he  spoke  at  a  public  meeting,  and  made  a  great  impression 
on  Emerson,  Alcott,  and  Thoreau.  Alcott  made  a  pen- 
picture  of  him.  "  I  think  him  equal  to  anything  he  dares, — 
the  man  to  do  the  deed,  if  it  must  be  done,  and  with  the 
martyr's  temper  and  purpose.  Nature  obviously  was  deeply 
intent  in  the  making  of  him.  He  is  of  imposing  appearance 
personally, — tall,  with  square  shoulders  and  standing;  eyes 
of  deep  gray,  and  couchant,  as  if  ready  to  spring  at  the 
least  rustling,  dauntless  yet  kindly;  his  hair  shooting  back 
ward  from  low  down  on  his  forehead ;  nose  trenchant  and 
Romanesque ;  set  lips,  his  voice  suppressed  yet  metallic,  sug 
gesting  deep  reserves ;  decided  mouth ;  the  countenance  and 
frame  charged  with  power  throughout." 

Emerson,  from  his  own  observation  and  from  hearsay, 
drew  his  spiritual  portrait :  "  For  himself,  Brown  is  so 
transparent  that  all  men  see  him  through.  He  is  a  man  to 
make  friends  wherever  on  earth  courage  and  integrity  are 
esteemed, — the  rarest  of  heroes,  a  pure  idealist,  with  no 
by-ends  of  his  own.  Many  of  us  have  seen  him,  and  every 
one  who  has  heard  him  speak  has  been  impressed  alike  by 


John   Brown  161 

his  simple,  artless  goodness  and  his  sublime  courage.  He 
joins  that  perfect  Puritan  faith  which  brought  his  ancestor 
to  Plymouth  Rock,  with  his  grandfather's  ardor  in  the 
Revolution.  He  believes  in  two  articles — two  instruments, 
shall  I  say? — the  Golden  Rule  and  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence;  and  he  used  this  expression  in  a  conversation 
here  concerning  them :  t  Better  that  a  whole  generation  of 
men,  women,  and  children  should  pass  away  by  a  violent 
death,  than  that  one  word  of  either  should  be  violated  in 
this  country/  .  .  .  He  grew  up  a  religious  and  manly 
person,  in  severe  poverty ;  a  fair  specimen  of  the  best  stock 
of  New  England,  having  that  force  of  thought  and  that 
sense  of  right  which  are  the  warp  and  woof  of  greatness. 

.  .  Thus  was  formed  a  romantic  character,  absolutely 
without  any  vulgar  trait;  living  to  ideal  ends,  without  any 
mixture  of  self-indulgence  pr  compromise,  such  as  lowers 
the  value  of  benevolent  and  thoughtful  men  we  know; 
abstemious,  refusing  luxuries,  not  sourly  and  reproachfully, 
but  simply  as  unfit  for  his  habit ;  quiet  and  gentle  as  a  child, 
in  the  house.  And  as  happens  usually  to  men  of  romantic 
character,  his  fortunes  were  romantic." 

But  the  romance  in  this  portrait  is  due  quite  as  much  to 
the  imagination  of  the  artist  as  to  the  character  of  the 
subject.  Emerson  seems  to  have  entirely  overlooked  in  his 
estimate  of  Brown  that  he  had  no  rational  idea  of  the  moral 
obligations  of  the  citizen  to  the  civil  government  and  to  the 
peace  of  society;  and  that  his  conscience  in  its  apparent 
simplicity  was  really  in  dire  confusion.  The  sentence  he 
quotes  from  Brown's  conversation  has  its  practical  com 
mentary  in  Brown's  acts.  He  was  as  ready  to  take  the 
sword,  to  redress  what  he  considered  a  breach  of  the  Golden 
Rule  or  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  as  if  mankind 
had  not  for  thousands  of  years  and  with  infinite  cost  been 
building  up  institutions  for  the  peaceful  settlement  of  difii- 


1 62  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

culties.  In  Kansas  he  saw  in  the  political  struggle  simply 
an  issue  to  be  tried  out  by  force  between  good  men  and  bad 
men ;  and  he  made  himself  executioner  of  a  group  of  men 
he  considered  bad,  thereby  plunging  into  a  series  of  mur 
ders  utterly  repugnant  to  his  natural  humanity.  He  after 
ward  justified  the  deed,  without  avowing  his  own  part  in 
it,  which  was  not  fully  known  till  twenty  years  later.  After 
Harper's  Ferry,  the  Springfield  Republican  (which  judged 
him  very  favorably),  speaking  partly  from  personal  knowl 
edge  gained  during  his  residence  in  Springfield,  said :  "  He 
is  so  constituted  that  when  he  gets  possessed  of  an  idea  he 
carries  it  out  with  unflinching  fidelity  to  all  its  logical  con 
sequences,  as  they  seem  to  him,  hesitating  at  no  absurdity 
and  deterred  by  no  unpleasant  consequences  to  himself  per 
sonally.  He  is  a  Presbyterian  in  his  faith,  and  feels  that  it 
is  for  this  very  purpose  that  God  has  reared  him  up." 

When  a  man  is  so  possessed  by  the  conviction  that  he  is 
God's  instrument  as  to  set  himself  outside  of  ordinary 
human  morality,  he  is  presumably  on  the  verge  of  ship 
wreck.  The  Republican,  while  emphasizing  the  popular  esti 
mate  of  John  Brown  as  "a  hero,"  coupled  with  this  the 
characterization  of  him  as  "  a  misguided  and  insane 
man." 

The  project  he  was  now  pressing — the  establishment  of 
a  mountain  refuge  for  fugitive  slaves,  working  toward  the 
depreciation  of  slave  property,  and  the  ultimate  extinction 
of  the  system — had  a  certain  superficial  plausibility ;  and  it 
seemed  to  avoid  the  inhumanity  of  general  insurrection. 
But  it  was  at  the  best  hardly  more  than  a  boy's  romance, 
and  at  the  last  moment  Brown  abandoned  it  for  a  still  more 
impracticable  plan. 

On  the  morning  of  October  17,  1859,  the  little  town  of 
Harper's  Ferry,  on  the  upper  Potomac,  awoke  to  the  amaz 
ing  discovery  that  in  the  night  the  buildings  of  the  United 


John  Brown  163 

States  armory  had  been  seized  and  held  by  a  company  of 
armed  men,  white  and  black;  that  they  had  gathered  in  a 
number  of  prisoners,  including  some  prominent  citizens; 
and  that  their  design  was  to  free  the  slaves.  Brown  had 
struck  his  blow.  With  eighteen  faithful  associates,  includ 
ing  three  of  his  sons,  he  had  lurked  near  the  town  till  all 
was  ready ;  then  in  the  night  he  had  marched  in  and  seized 
the  armory,  and  brought  in  as  prisoners  some  of  the  neigh 
boring  planters  who  were  told  they  were  held  as  hostages. 
Other  citizens  were  captured  almost  without  resistance  in 
the  early  morning  hours,  till  the  prisoners  were  twice  the 
number  of  their  captors.  But  there  was  no  rising  of  the 
negroes.  Brown,  after  his  first  easy  success,  stayed  still 
as  if  paralyzed.  Either  he  had  no  further  plan,  or  his 
judgment  and  will  failed  him  at  the  crisis.  His  complete 
failure  to  improve  his  first  advantage — whether  the  weak 
ness  lay  in  his  plan  or  the  execution — indicated  the  radical 
unsoundness  which  underlay  his  impressive  exterior.  The 
town  rallied  its  forces,  surrounded  the  armory,  and  a  fight 
was  kept  up  through  the  afternoon.  At  night  Colonel 
Robert  E.  Lee  with  a  force  of  troops  arrived  from  Wash 
ington,  and  the  next  morning  they  easily  stormed  the 
armory,  which  had  lost  half  its  garrison,  including  two  of 
Brown's  sons,  and  Brown  and  the  rest  of  his  party  were 
made  prisoners. 

The  country  was  in  a  state  of  profound  peace;  Kansas 
had  fallen  out  of  mind ;  the  Presidential  election  was  a  year 
away;  and  even  political  discussion  was  languid.  The 
news  of  the  raid  came  as  an  utter  surprise.  Brown  was 
unknown  to  the  general  public,  and  beyond  the  patent  fact 
of  an  attempted  slave  insurrection  there  was  at  first  general 
bewilderment  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  event.  Brown's 
secret  committee, — ignorant  of  his  exact  plan,  most  of  them 
having  had  but  little  to  do  with  him,  and  none  of  them 


164  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

expecting  the  blow  when  it  fell, — were  in  no  haste  to  en 
lighten  the  public,  or  acknowledge  their  responsibility.  But 
Brown  became  his  own  interpreter.  The  ubiquitous  New 
York  Herald  reporter  was  instantly  on  the  ground,  and 
never  were  interviews  more  eagerly  read  and  more  impres- 
sive  in  their  effect  than  Brown's  replies  to  his  various 
examiners.  A  prisoner,  wounded,  in  the  shadow  of  a  felon's 
death,  the  old  man  bore  himself  with  perfect  courage  and 
composure.  Asked  on  what  principle  he  justified  his  acts, 
he  replied :  "  Upon  the  Golden  Rule.  I  pity  the  poor  in 
bondage,  that  have  none  to  help  them;  that  is  why  I  am 
here;  not  to  gratify  any  personal  animosity,  revenge,  or 
vindictive  spirit.  It  is  my  sympathy  with  the  oppressed  and 
wronged,  that  are  as  good  as  you  and  as  precious  in  the 
sight  of  God."  The  Virginians  recognized  his  sincerity 
and  integrity.  The  Governor  of  the  State,  Henry  A.  Wise — 
an  extreme  Southerner  in  his  politics — visited  Brown,  and 
said  publicly :  "  They  are  mistaken  who  take  Brown  to  be 
a  madman.  He  is  a  bundle  of  the  best  nerves  I  ever  saw, — 
cut  and  thrust  and  bleeding  and  in  bonds.  He  is  a  man 
of  clear  head,  of  courage,  fortitude,  and  simple  ingenuous 
ness.  He  is  cool,  collected,  and  indomitable,  and  it  is  but 
just  to  him  to  say  that  he  was  humane  to  his  prisoners, 
and  he  inspired  me  with  great  trust  in  his  integrity  as  a 
man  of  truth.  He  is  a  fanatic,  vain  and  garrulous,  but 
firm,  truthful,  and  intelligent." 

For  Brown  and  his  associates  there  could  be  but  one 
conclusion  to  the  business.  They  were  put  on  trial  for 
treason  and  murder.  They  had  a  fair  trial,  and  indeed  the 
case  admitted  of  no  doubt.  They  were  sentenced  to  be 
hanged,  and  the  sentence  was  carried  out,  within  six  weeks 
of  their  act. 

At  the  North,  Brown  was  widely  honored  as  a  hero 
and  a  martyr.  No  one  defended  his  act, — a  slave  insur- 


John  Brown  165 

rection,  in  whatever  form,  found  no  public  justification. 
Probably  a  considerable  majority  of  the  community,  includ 
ing  all  the  more  conservative  political  elements,  condemned 
the  man  and  his  deed,  and  perhaps  justified  his  execution. 
But  wherever  anti-slavery  feeling  was  strong,  and  with  a 
multitude  who,  apart  from  such  feeling,  were  sensitive  to 
striking  qualities  of  manhood,  there  was  great  admiration 
and  sympathy  for  Brown  and  sorrow  for  his  fate.  John 
A.  Andrew  spoke  a  common  feeling  when  he  said :  "  What 
ever  may  be  thought  of  John  Brown's  acts,  John  Brown 
himself  was  right."  Emerson  eulogized  him  in  daring 
words.  If,  he  said,  John  Brown  is  hung,  he  will  glorify 
the  gallows  as  Jesus  glorified  the  cross.  On  the  day  of  his 
death  the  church  bells  were  tolled  in  many  a  Northern  town. 
Said  the  Springfield  Republican  the  next  morning :  "  There 
need  be  no  tears  for  him.  Few  men  die  so  happily,  so 
satisfied  with  time,  place,  and  circumstance,  as  did  he. 
.  .  .  A  Christian  man  hung  by  Christians  for  acting 
upon  his  convictions  of  duty, — a  brave  man  hung  for  a 
chivalrous  and  self-sacrificing  deed  of  humanity, — a  philan 
thropist  hung  for  seeking  the  liberty  of  oppressed  men. 
No  outcry  about  violated  law  can  cover  up  the  essential 
enormity  of  a  deed  like  this." 

Never  was  a  man  dealt  with  more  generously  by  posthu 
mous  fame.  In  the  Civil  War,  two  lines  of  verse,  fitted  to 
a  stirring  melody,  became  the  marching  song  of  the  Union 
armies : 

John  Brown's  body  lies  a-mouldering  in  the  grave 
His  soul  is  marching  on! 

This  was  the  last  touch  of  the  apotheosis.     John  Brown 
became  to  the  popular    imagination    the    forerunner    and 
martyr  of  the  cause  of  Union  and  freedom. 
At  the  North,  one  immediate  and  lasting  effect  of  the 


i66  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 


/„, 


tragedy  was  to  intensify  the  conviction  of  the  essential 
wrong  of  siavery.  However  mistaken  was  Brown's  way 
of  attack,  it  was  felt  that  nothing  short  of  an  organized 
system  of  injustice  and  cruelty  could  have  inspired  such  a 
man  to  such  an  attempt.  The  very  logic  of  facts,  which 
compelled  Virginia  in  self-defense  to  hang  him,  showed  the 
character  of  the  institution  which  needed  such  defense. 
Yes,  it  was  necessary  to  hang  him, — but  what  was  the  sys 
tem  that  made  necessary  the  sacrifice  of  such  a  life? 

But  Andrew's  words  "  whatever  may  be  thought  of  John 
Brown's  acts  '" — call  for  further  consideration.  What  were 
his  acts,  and  what  were  their  consequences?  A  part  of 
the  answer  was  seen  in  the  bodies  of  men  of  Harper's  Ferry, 
lying  in  the  streets,  peaceful  men  with  wives  and  children, 
slain  for  resisting  an  armed  invasion  of  their  quiet  little 
village.  The  first  man  to  fall  was  a  negro  porter  of  a 
railway  train,  who,  failing  to  halt  when  challenged  by  one 
of  Brown's  sentinels,  was  shot.  The  second  man  killed 
was  a  citizen  standing  in  his  own  doorway.  The  third  was 
a  graduate  of  West  Point  who,  hearing  of  trouble,  came 
riding  into  town  with  his  gun,  and  was  shot  as  he  passed 
the  armory. 

Among  the  letters  that  came  to  Brown  in  prison  was  one 
from  the  widow  of  one  of  the  Pottawatomie  victims,  with 
these  words :  "  You  can  now  appreciate  my  distress  in 
Kansas,  when  you  then  and  there  entered  my  house  at  mid 
night  and  arrested  my  husband  and  two  boys,  and  took 
them  out  in  the  yard,  and  in  cold  blood  shot  them  dead  in 
my  hearing.  You  can't  say  you  did  it  to  free  our  slaves ;  we 
had  none  and  never  expected  to  own  one;  but  it  only 
made  me  a  poor  disconsolate  widow  with  helpless 
children." 

Brown's  first  plan,  of  drawing  off  the  slaves  to  a  moun 
tain  fortress, — peaceable  only  in  semblance,  and  involving 


John  Brown  167 

inevitable  fighting, — he  exchanged  at  last  for  a  form  of 
attack  which  was  an  instant  challenge  to  battle.  In  a  con 
ference  with  Frederick  Douglass,  on  the  eve  of  the  event, 
Douglass  vainly  urged  the  earlier  plan,  but  found  Brown 
resolved  on  "  striking  a  blow  which  should  instantly  rouse 
the  country."  On  the  day  of  his  death,  Brown  penned  these 
sentences  and  handed  them  to  one  of  his  guards :  "  I,  John 
Brown,  am  now  quite  certain  that  the  crimes  of  this  guilty 
land  will  never  be  purged  away  but  with  blood.  I  had,  as 
I  now  think  vainly,  flattered  myself  that  without  very  much 
bloodshed  it  might  be  done."  But  no  man  so  directly  and 
deliberately  aimed  to  settle  the  difficulty  by  bloodshed  as 
he.  It  is  thus  that  men  make  God  responsible  for  what 
themselves  are  doing. 

The  Civil  War  when  it  came  brought  enough  of  suffering 
and  horror.  But  it  was  mild  and  merciful  compared  to 
what  a  slave  insurrection  might  have  been.  And  it  was 
essentially  a  slave  insurrection  that  Brown  aimed  at.  The 
great  mass  of  the  Northern  people  would  have  recoiled 
with  abhorrence  from  a  servile  revolt.  But  who  could 
wonder  if  the  Southern  people  did  not  believe  this,  when 
they  saw  honors  heaped  on  a  man  who  died  for  inciting 
such  an  insurrection?  How  could  they  nicely  distinguish 
between  approval  of  a  man's  acts  and  praise  for  the  man 
himself?  If  the  North  had  one  thinker  who  set  forth  its 
highest  ideals,  its  noblest  aims,  that  man  was  Emerson. 
Yet  Emerson  passed  Brown's  acts  almost  unblamed,  and 
named  his  execution  together  with  that  on  Calvary.  Not 
all  the  disclaimers  of  politicians,  the  resolves  of  conven 
tions,  could  reassure  the  South,  after  that  day  of  mourning 
with  which  Northern  towns  solemnized  John  Brown's  death. 
What  wonder  that  an  ardent  Southerner  like  Toombs,  speak 
ing  to  his  constituents  a  few  months  later,  called  on  them 
to  "  meet  the  enemy  at  the  door-sill.  "  And  what  wonder 


The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

that  the  Southern  people  were  inclined  as  never  before  to 
look  upon  the  Northern  people  as  their  foes? 

The  more  deeply  we  study  human  life,  the  more  do  we 
realize  that  as  to  individual  responsibility  "  to  understand 
is  to  forgive."  Half  a  century  after  the  event,  we  may 
well  have  forgiveness — not  of  charity,  but  of  justice — for 
John  Brown,  and  for  the  Governor  who  signed  his  death- 
warrant;  we  can  sympathize  with  those  who  honored  and 
wept  for  him,  and  with  those  who  shuddered  at  his  deed. 
But,  for  the  truth  of  history  and  for  the  guidance  of  the 
future,  we  must  consider  not  only  the  intentions  of  men, 
but  the  intrinsic  character  of  their  deeds;  not  only  John 
Brown  himself,  but  John  Brown's  acts.  And  in  that  long 
series  of  deeds  of  violence  and  wrong  which  wrought 
mutual  hatred  and  fratricidal  war  between  the  two  sections 
of  a  people,  that  midnight  attack  on  the  peaceful  Virginia 
village  must  bear  its  heavy  condemnation.  Hitherto  ag 
gression  had  been  almost  entirely  from  the  South ;  this  was 
a  counter-stroke,  and  told  with  dire  force  against  the  hope 
of  a  peaceable  and  righteous  settlement. 

Probably  most  readers  of  to-day  will  wonder  at  the  de 
gree  of  admiration  and  praise  which  Brown  received.  It 
must  be  ascribed  in  part  to  some  quality  in  his  personality, 
which  cast  a  kind  of  glamour  on  some  of  those  who  met 
him,  and  inspired  such  highly  idealized  portraiture  as 
Emerson's.  But  there  remains  the  extraordinary  fact  that 
men  like  Theodore  Parker  and  Gerritt  Smith  and  Dr.  S. 
G.  Howe  gave  countenance  and  aid  to  Brown's  project. 
Before  history's  bar,  their  responsibility  seems  heavier  than 
his;  they,  educated,  intelligent,  trained  in  public  service; 
he  an  untaught,  ill-balanced  visionary,  who  at  least  staked 
his  life  on  his  faith.  Their  complicity  in  his  plot  illustrates 
how  in  some  moral  enthusiasts  the  hostility  to  slavery  had 
distorted  their  perception  of  reality.  Such  men  saw  the 


John  Brown  169 

Southern  communities  through  the  medium  of  a  single  in 
stitution,  itself  half-understood.  They  saw,  so  to  speak, 
only  the  suffering  slave  and  his  oppressor.  They  failed  to 
see  or  forgot  the  general  life  of  household  and  neighbor 
hood,  with  its  common,  kindly,  human  traits.  They  did 
not  recognize  that  Harper's  Ferry  was  made  up  of  much 
the  same  kind  of  people,  at  bottom,  as  Concord.  They  did 
not  realize  that  a  slave  insurrection  meant  a  universal  social 
conflagration.  Indeed,  Brown's  original  scheme  of  a  gen 
eral  flight  of  slaves  to  a  mountain  stronghold  had  a  fal 
lacious  appearance  of  avoiding  a  violent  insurrection,  and 
it  was  with  the  background  of  this  plan  that  Brown,  a 
wounded  prisoner  with  death  impending,  appealed  to  the 
Northern  imagination  as  a  hero  and  martyr. 

But  this  glorification  of  him  wrought  a  momentous  effect 
in  the  South.  It  is  best  described  by  those  who  witnessed 
it.  John  S.  Wise,  son  of  the  Governor  who  signed  Brown's 
cleathf-warrant,  writes  in  his  graphic  reminiscences,  The 
End  of  an  Era:  "  While  these  scenes  were  being  enacted  " 
• — the  trial  and  execution  of  Brown  and  the  Northern  com 
ments — "  a  great  change  of  feeling  took  place  in  Virginia 
toward  the  people  of  the  North  and  toward  the  Union 
itself.  Virginians  began  to  look  upon  the  people  of  the 
North  as  hating  them,  and  willing  to  see  them  assassinated 
at  midnight  by  their  own  slaves,  led  by  Northern  emis 
saries;  as  flinging  away  all  pretense  of  regard  for  laws 
protecting  the  slave-owner;  as  demanding  of  them  the 
immediate  freeing  of  their  slaves,  or  that  they  prepare 
against  further  attacks  like  Brown's,  backed  by  the  moral 
and  pecuniary  support  of  the  North.  During  the  year 
1860  the  Virginians  began  to  organize  and  arm  themselves 
against  such  emergencies." 

The  spirit  of  proscription  against  all  anti-slavery  men 
broke  out  afresh.  At  Berea,  Kentucky,  a  little  group  of  anti- 


170  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

slavery  churches  and  schools  had  been  growing  for  six 
years,  championed  by  the  stalwart  Cassius  M.  Clay,  and 
with  the  benignant  and  peaceful  John  G.  Fee  as  their 
leader.  A  month  after  Brown's  foray  a  band  of  armed 
horsemen  summoned  twelve  of  their  men  to  leave  the  State. 
Governor  Magoffin  said  he  could  not  protect  them,  and 
with  their  families  they  went  into  exile — stout-heartedly 
chanting  at  their  departure  the  37th  Psalm :  "  Fret  not  thy 
self  because  of  evil-doers." 

In  the  South  itself  there  had  been  developing  recently 
an  antagonism  to  the  slave  power.  Its  strength  lay  not  in 
the  moral  opposition  to  slavery,  which  indeed  always  ex 
isted,  but  was  quiet  and  apparently  cowed;  but  rather  in 
the  growing  class  of  city  residents, — merchants  and  pro 
fessional  men, — whose  interests  and  feelings  were  often 
antagonistic  to  the  large  planters.  The  hostility  to  slavery 
on  economic  grounds,  and  in  the  white  man's  interest,  found 
passionate  expression  in  Helper's  Impending  Crisis,  and  in 
a  milder  form  was  spreading  widely.  But  at  the  menace 
of  invasion  and  servile  insurrection  all  classes  drew  to 
gether.  Especially  the  women  of  the  South  became  sud 
denly  and  intensely  interested  in  the  political  situation. 
The  suggestion  of  personal  peril  appealed  to  them,  and  to 
the  men  who  were  their  natural  defenders.  The  situation 
is  well  described  in  Prof.  J.  W.  Burgess's  The  Civil  War 
and  the  Constitution, — a  generally  impartial  book,  written 
with  personal  appreciation  of  the  Southern  standpoint: 
"  No  man  who  is  acquainted  with  the  change  of  feeling 
which  occurred  in  the  South  between  the  i6th  of  October, 
1859,  and  the  i6th  of  November  of  the  same  year  can  regard 
the  Harper's  Ferry  villainy  as  anything  other  than  one  of 
the  chiefest  crimes  of  our  history.  It  established  and  re 
established  the  control  of  the  great  radical  slaveholders  over 
the  non-slaveholders,  the  little  slaveholders,  and  the  more 


John  Brown  171 

liberal  of  the  larger  slaveholders,  which  had  already  begun 
to  be  loosened.  It  created  anew  a  solidarity  of  interest 
between  them  all,  which  was  felt  by  all  with  an  intensity 
which  overbore  every  other  sentiment.  It  gave  thus  to  the 
great  radical  slaveholders  the  willing  physical  material  for 
the  construction  of  armies  and  navies  and  for  the  prosecu 
tion  of  war." 


CHAPTER  XIX 

ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

EVERY  American  may  be  presumed  to  be  familiar  with  the 
external  facts  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  early  life, — the  rude 
cabin,  the  shiftless  father,  the  dead  mother's  place  rilled  by 
the  tender  step-mother;  the  brief  schooling,  the  hungry 
reading  of  the  few  books  by  the  fire-light;  the  hard  farm- 
work,  with  a  turn  now  of  rail-splitting,  now  of  flat-boating ; 
the  country  sports  and  rough  good-fellowship;  the  upward 
steps  as  store-clerk  and  lawyer.  But  the  interior  qualities 
that  made  up  his  character  and  built  his  fortune  will  bear 
further  study. 

He  was  composed  of  traits  which  seemed  to  contradict 
each  other.  In  a  sense  this  is  true  of  everyone.  Dr. 
Holmes  says  (in  substance)  :  "  The  vehicle  in  which  each 
one  of  us  crosses  life's  narrow  isthmus  between  two  oceans 
is  not  a  one-seated  sulky,  but  an  omnibus."  Sometimes,  as 
depicted  in  that  wonderful  parable,  Dr.  Jekyll  and  Mr. 
Hyde,  one  inmate  ejects  the  others.  But  in  Lincoln  the 
various  elements  were  wrought  as  years  passed  by  into  har^ 
mony. 

He  was  prized  among  his  early  companions  as  a  wit  and 
story-teller.  The  women  complained  because  at  their  par 
ties  all  the  men  were  drawn  off  to  hear  Abe  Lincoln's 
stories.  When  he  came  to  be  a  public  speaker,  he  feathered 
the  shafts  of  his  argument  with  jest  and  anecdote.  The 
vein  of  humor  in  him  was  rich  and  deep;  it  helped  him 
through  the  hard  places.  When  as  President  he  announced 

172 


Abraham  Lincoln  173 

to  his  cabinet  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  he  first  re 
freshed  himself  by  reading  to  them  a  chapter  from  Artemus 
Ward. 

His  early  growth  was  in  rough  soil,  and  some  of  the  mud 
stuck  to  him, — his  jests  were  sometimes  broad.  But  if 
coarse  in  speech  he  was  pure  in  life,  and  neither  the  rancor 
of  political  hate  nor  the  research  of  unsparing  biographers 
ever  charged  him  with  an  unchaste  act. 

Along  with  this  rollicking  fun  he  had  a  vein  of  deepest 
melancholy.  In  part  it  was  temperamental.  The  malarial 
country  sometimes  bred  a  strain  of  habitual  depression. 
His  mother  was  the  natural  daughter  of  a  Virginia  planter, 
and  had  the  sadness  sometimes  wrought  by  such  pre-natal 
conditions;  it  was  said  she  was  never  seen  to  smile.  Lin 
coln's  early  years  had  hardships  and  trials,  over  many  of 
which  he  triumphed,  and  triumphed  laughing;  but  there 
were  others  for  which  there  was  neither  victory  nor  mirth. 
Some  of  his  early  letters  of  intimate  friendship  (as  given 
in  Hay  and  Nicolay's  biography),  show  a  singular  ca 
pacity  for  romantic  affection,  and  gleams  of  hope  of 
supreme  happiness.  But  death  frustrated  this  hope,  and 
the  disappointment  brought  him  to  the  verge  of  insanity. 
In  his  domestic  life, — it  was  an  open  secret, — he  had  some 
of  the  experience  which  disciplined  Socrates.  Perhaps  we 
go  to  the  root  of  his  sadness  if  we  say  that  in  his  deepest 
heart  he  was  a  passionate  idealist,  and  by  circumstances 
he  was  long  shut  out  from  the  natural  satisfaction  of 
ideality.  His  partner  Herndon  said  of  him,  "  His  melan 
choly  dripped  from  him  as  he  walked." 

Out  of  these  experiences  he  brought  a  great  power  of 
patience  and  a  great  power  of  sympathy.  These  armed 
him  for  his  work.  He  became  invincible  against  the  per 
versities  and  follies  of  men,  and  the  blows  of  fate.  He 
ripened  into  a  tenderness  such  as  prompted  him,  when  bur- 


174  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

dened  with  cares  beyond  measure,  to  give  a  sympathetic 
hearing  to  every  mother  who  came  to  the  President  with 
the  story  of  her  boy's  trouble. 

To  take  another  brace  of  qualities,  he  was  at  once  a 
powerful  fighter  and  an  habitual  peace-maker.  His  long, 
gaunt,  sinewy  frame,  and  his  tough  courage,  made  him  a 
formidable  antagonist,  but  it  was  hard  to  provoke  him  to 
combat.  Lamon, — whose  biography  is  a  treasury  of  good 
stories,  sometimes  lacking  in  discretion,  but  giving  an  in 
valuable  realistic  picture, — relates  an  encounter  with  the 
village  bully,  Jack  Armstrong.  The  "  boys  "  at  last  teased 
Lincoln  into  a  wrestling  match,  and  when  his  victory  in 
the  good-natured  encounter  provoked  Jack  to  unfair  play, 
Abe  shook  him  as  a  terrier  shakes  a  rat.  Then  he  made 
peace  with  him,  drew  out  the  better  quality  in  him;  and 
the  two  reigned  "  like  friendly  Caesars  "  over  the  village 
crowd,  Abe  tempering  Jack's  playfulness  when  it  got  too 
rough,  and  winning  the  boys  to  kindly  ways. 

In  that  day  and  region,  men  were  very  frank  about  their 
religious  beliefs  and  disbeliefs.  The  skepticism  or  unbe 
lief  which  lies  unspoken  in  the  hearts  of  a  multitude  of 
men, — silent  perhaps  out  of  regard  to  public  opinion,  per 
haps  from  consideration  for  mother  or  wife — found  free 
and  frequent  utterance  in  the  West,  long  before  Robert 
Ingersoll  gave  it  eloquent  voice.  Lincoln,  though  we  have 
called  him  an  idealist  at  heart,  habitually  guided  himself  by 
logic,  by  hard  sense,  and  by  such  evidence  as  passes  in  a 
court  of  law.  He  was  one  of  the  class  to  whom  books  like 
Tom  Paine's  Age  of  Reason  appealed  strongly.  In  early 
life  he  wrote  a  treatise  against  Christianity.  A  politic 
friend  to  whom  he  showed  his  manuscript  put  it  in  the 
stove,  but  the  writer  was  not  changed  in  his  opinions.  To 
Christianity  as  a  supernatural  revelation  he  never  became  a 
convert,  but  the  belief  in  "  a  Power  that  makes  for  right- 


Abraham  Lincoln 

eousness  "  grew  with  his  growth  and  strengthened  with  his 
strength. 

With  deepening  experiences,  the  awe  and  mystery  of 
life  weighed  heavily  on  him.  When  travelling  on  circuit, 
his  days  spent  in  law-cases,  diversified  with  sociability  and 
funny  stories,  he  would  sometimes  be  seen  in  the  early 
morning  brooding  by  the  fire-place  with  hands  outspread, 
and  murmuring  his  favorite  verses, — a  soliloquy  on  the 
mournfulness  and  mystery  of  life :  "  Oh,  why  should  the 
spirit  of  mortal  be  proud !  " 

In  his  early  youth  he  read  eagerly  and  thoroughly  such 
few  books  as  came  in  his  way.  Later,  his  taste  for  reading 
seemed  to  grow  less.  He  had  a  keen  instinct  for  reality, 
and  perhaps  he  found  little  in  books  that  satisfied  him. 
For  poetry  and  philosophy  he  had  small  aptitude,  and  in 
science  he  had  no  training.  What  books  he  read  he  seemed 
to  digest  and  get  the  pith  of.  Once,  made  suddenly  con 
scious  by  defeat  of  his  lack  of  book-culture,  he  took  up 
Euclid's  geometry,  and  resolutely  studied  and  re-studied 
it.  Doubtless  that  helped  him  in  the  close  logic  which 
often  characterized  his  speeches.  The  strength  of  his 
speeches  lay  in  their  logic,  their  close  regard  to  fact,  their 
adaptation  to  the  plain  people  of  whom  he  was  one,  their 
homely  illustrations,  and,  as  the  years  developed  him,  an 
appeal  to  some  high  principle  of  duty.  His  chief  library 
was  men  and  women.  From  them,  and  from  his  own  ex 
perience,  he  drew  the  elements  of  his  politics,  history, 
philosophy. 

He  had  the  ambition  natural  to  a  man  of  high  powers. 
With  all  his  genial  sociability,  he  was  in  a  way  self-cen 
tered.  His  associates  often  thought  him, — and  Lamon 
shares  the  opinion — not  only  moody  and  meditative,  but 
unsocial,  cold,  impassive;  bent  on  his  own  ends,  and  using 
other  men  as  his  instruments.  Partly  we  may  count  this 


176  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

as  the  judgment  of  the  crowd  to  whom  Lincoln's  inner  life 
was  unimaginable.  He  shared  their  social  hours,  and  then 
withdrew  into  thoughts  and  feelings  and  purposes  which 
he  could  share  with  no  one.  Doubtless,  too,  he  was  in 
fault  for  some  of  that  neglect  of  the  small  courtesies  and 
kindnesses  which  besets  men  whose  own  thoughts  fascinate 
them  too  strongly.  There  is  a  graphic  touch,  in  the  story 
of  his  love  affairs,  of  a  girl  who  rejected  his  advances 
because  she  had  seen  him  on  a  hot  day  walk  up  a  hill  with 
a  woman  and  never  offer  to  relieve  her  of  the  baby  she 
was  carrying. 

As  a  lawyer  he  won  more  than  ordinary  success,  making 
good  his  lack  of  erudition  by  shrewdness  and  knowledge 
of  human  nature.  It  was  observed  that  he  always  tried  a 
case  honestly  and  fairly;  that  he  was  not  fond  of  contro 
versy,  and  always  preferred  to  settle  a  case  out  of  court; 
that  he  never  argued  well  or  strongly  unless  his  conviction 
was  fully  on  his  client's  side;  that,  if  unconvinced  himself, 
he  simply  brought  forward  the  proofs  which  fairly  counted 
on  his  side,  and  left  the  decision  to  others ;  and  that  he  was 
so  little  attentive  to  gain  that,  although  he  became  one  of 
the  leading  lawyers  of  Illinois,  he  never  accumulated  much 
money. 

His  fairness  as  a  lawyer,  and  his  integrity  in  politics, 
won  his  popular  nickname  of  "  Honest  Abe."  Perhaps 
}  honesty,  in  its  fullest  sense,  was  his  central  quality.  He 
|  was  always  true  to  the  truth  as  he  saw  it — true  in  thought 
and  word  and  deed.  One  feels  in  his  printed  speeches  that 
he  is  trying  to  see  and  to  say  things  as  they  are.  He  had 
not  the  aid  of  the  mystic's  vision,  in  which  the  moral  uni 
verse  is  revealed  in  such  splendor  that  to  accept  and  obey 
it  is  pure  joy.  But  he  saw  and  felt  and  practiced  the 
homely  obligations  of  honesty  and  kindness.  His  education 
came  largely  as  at  successive  epochs  there  were  disclosed 


Abraham  Lincoln  177 

to  him  new  heights  of  moral  significance  in  the  life  of  the 
nation;  and  as  fast  as  such  disclosures  came  to  him  he 
set  himself  to  obey  them  with  absolute  loyalty. 

His  conscience  was  not  of  the  self-contemplating  and 
self-voicing  kind.  He  was  chary  of  words  about  duty.  It 
has  been  alleged  that  the  typical  New  Englander  is  afflicted 
with  "  a  chronic  inflammation  of  the  moral  sense."  Such 
a  malady  does  exist,  though  many  a  New  Englander  is 
bravely  free  from  it,  while  it  is  not  unknown  in  Alaska 
or  Japan.  From  such  an  over-conscientious  conscience,  and 
from  its  incidents  and  its  counterfeits,  there  is  bred  a  re 
dundancy  of  verbal  moralising.  That  was  not  a  foible  of 
Lincoln.  The  sense  of  moral  obligation  underlies  his 
weightier  utterances,  as  the  law  of  gravitation  underlies 
scientific  demonstrations, — not  talked  of,  but  assumed. 

Lincoln's  political  career  gave  high  promise  at  the  start. 
He  seemed  to  have  the  qualities  for  success, — ambition, 
shrewdness  in  managing  men,  power  as  a  speaker,  integrity 
which  won  general  confidence,  ideals  not  too  high  above  the 
crowd.  Yet  his  success  was  so  moderate  that  in  contrasting 
himself  with  Senator  Douglas,  at  the  outset  of  their  debate 
in  1858,  he  declared  that,  "  With  me  the  race  of  ambition 
has  been  a  failure, — a  flat  failure ;  with  him  it  has  been  one 
of  splendid  success."  There  were  reasons  for  it:  Douglas 
had  given  himself  without  reserve  to  his  personal  advance 
ment,  and  Lincoln  had  been  hampered  by  regard  for  other 
men  and  for  larger  ends.  After  one  term  in  Congress  as 
a  Whig,  1847-8,  he  retired  in  deference  to  the  fashion  of 
"  rotation "  between  localities.  When  roused  to  new 
activity  by  the  anti-Nebraska  campaign  in  1854,  he  was  the 
favorite  candidate  of  his  party  for  the  seriatorship ;  but 
seeing  that  the  knot  of  men  who  held  the  balance  of  power 
were  gravitating  to  the  other  side,  he  insisted  on  withdraw 
ing  in  favor  of  Lyman  Trumbull,  as  a  stronger  candidate, 


178  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

who  accordingly  won  the  day.  Before  the  revival  of  the 
slavery  issue,  there  had  been  nothing  in  the  oldtime  Whig 
and  Democratic  contests  to  appeal  to  the  deeper  elements 
in  Lincoln's  nature,  and  personal  ambition  alone  was  not 
strong  enough  to  push  him  to  eminence.  Though  he  could 
handle  men  skillfully,  he  had  a  distaste  for  the  petty  arts  of 
the  politician's  trade.  "  Politics,"  he  said,  "  is  the  combina 
tion  of  individual  meannesses  for  the  general  good."  And 
he  had  small  relish  for  the  game,  until  "  the  general  good  " 
loomed  clear  and  large. 

His  attitude  on  slavery  was  typical  of  the  men  at  the 
North  who  were  at  once  humane  and  regardful  of  the 
established  order.  He  gave  his  general  position,  in  homely 
and  graphic  fashion,  in  a  letter  to  his  old  friend,  Joshua 
F.  Speed,  of  Kentucky,  in  1855.  This  was  at  the  time  he 
referred  to  when  he  wrote :  "  I  was  losing  interest  in 
politics,  when  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  roused 
me  again."  To  Speed  he  wrote:  "I  acknowledge  your 
rights  and  my  obligations  under  the  Constitution  in  regard 
to  your  slaves.  I  confess  I  hate  to  see  the  poor  creatures 
hunted  down  and  caught,  and  carried  back  to  their  stripes 
and  unrequited  toils ;  but  I  bite  my  lips  and  keep  quiet.  In 
1841,  you  and  I  had  together  a  tedious  low-water  trip  in 
a  steamboat  from  Louisville  to  St.  Louis.  You  may  re 
member,  as  well  as  I  do,  that  from  Louisville  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Ohio  there  were  on  board  ten  or  a  dozen  slaves 
shackled  together  with  irons.  That  sight  was  a  continued 
torment  to  me ;  and  I  see  something  like  it  every  time  I 
touch  the  Ohio  or  any  other  slave  border.  It  is  not  fair 
for  you  to  assume  that  I  have  no  interest  in  a  thing  which 
has,  and  continually  exercises,  the  power  of  making  me 
miserable.  You  ought  rather  to  appreciate  how  much  the 
great  body  of  the  Northern  people  do  crucify  their  feelings, 
in  order  to  maintain  their  loyalty  to  the  Constitution  and 


Abraham  Lincoln  179 

the  Union.  I  do  oppose  the  extension  of  slavery,  because 
my  judgment  and  feelings  so  prompt  me;  and  I  am  under 
no  obligations  to  the  contrary." 

It  was  this  strong  regard  for  the  established  law  of  the 
land  which  set  the  moderate  anti-slavery  men  apart  from  the 
Abolitionists  of  the  extreme  type.  And  up  to  this  time, 
Lincoln,  though  hostile  to  slavery,  had  not  been  especially 
concerned  as  to  the  nation's  dealing  with  it.  But  now 
came  the  opportunity  and  call  to  resist  its  extension  into 
the  territories,  and  with  the  response  to  that  call  came  the 
sense  that  a  great  contest  was  impending  between  right 
and  wrong,  between  the  good  of  the  many  and  the  selfish 
ness  of  the  few. 

Lincoln  had  close  at  hand  a  friend  to  spur  him  on.  His 
law-partner,  William  H.  Herndon,  was  an  enthusiastic 
radical  in  politics  and  religion.  He  was  an  Abolitionist, 
and  a  follower  of  Theodore  Parker.  He  had  long  plied 
Lincoln  with  Parker's  sermons  and  with  anti-slavery  lit 
erature.  When  in  1856  Herndon  and  his  friends  began  to 
organize  to  support  armed  resistance  in  Kansas,  Lincoln 
remonstrated  with  them  successfully.  Then  came  the  part 
ing  of  the  ways, — Republican,  Democrat,  or  Know-nothing  ? 
The  Illinois  Abolitionists  threw  themselves  heartily  into  the 
Republican  movement.  At  its  first  State  convention,  at 
Bloomington,  Lincoln  was  the  great  figure.  The  faithful 
Herndon,  his  missionary  zeal  rewarded  at  last  by  such  a 
convert,  describes  in  glowing  language  the  speech  of  Lin 
coln, — which  so  carried  him  away  that  after  trying  for 
fifteen  minutes  to  take  notes  as  usual,  he  threw  away  his 
pencil.  "  Heretofore,  and  up  to  this  moment,  he  had 
simply  argued  the  slavery  question  on  grounds  of  policy, — 
on  what  are  called  the  statesman's  grounds, — never  reach 
ing  the  question  of  the  radical  and  the  eternal  right.  Now 
he  was  newly  baptized  and  freshly  born ;  he  had  the  fervor 


180  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

of  a  new  convert;  the  smothered  flame  broke  out;  enthu 
siasm  unusual  to  him  blazed  up;  his  eyes  were  aglow  with 
an  inspiration;  he  felt  justice;  his  heart  was  alive  to  the 
right;  his  sympathies,  remarkably  deep  for  him,  burst  forth, 
and  he  stood  before  the  throne  of  the  eternal  Right,  in 
presence  of  his  God,  and  then  and  there  unburdened  his 
penitential  and  fired  soul.  This  speech  was  fresh,  new, 
genuine,  odd,  original ;  filled  with  fervor  not  unmixed  with 
a  divine  enthusiasm;  his  head  breathing  out  through  his 
tender  heart  its  truths,  its  sense  of  right,  and  its  feeling 
of  the  good  and  for  the  good.  If  Lincoln  was  six  feet  four 
inches  high  usually,  at  Bloomington  he  was  seven  feet,  and 
inspired  at  that." 

But  the  prairie  fire  was  slow  to  light.  Five  days  after  the 
convention,  Herndon  and  Lincoln  got  up  a  ratification  meet 
ing  in  Springfield.  There  were  posters,  illuminations,  a 
band  of  music, — and  at  the  appointed  hour,  one  man  in  the 
hall  besides  Lincoln  and  Herndon!  Lincoln  took  the  plat 
form,  began  with  words  half-sad,  half-mirthful,  and  con 
cluded:  "All  seems  dead,  dead,  dead;  but  the  age  is  not 
yet  dead;  it  liveth  as  sure  as  our  Maker  liveth.  Under  all 
this  seeming  want  of  life  and  motion,  the  world  does  move 
nevertheless.  Be  hopeful.  And  now  let  us  adjourn,  and 
appeal  to  the  people." 

The  prairie  caught  fire  at  last.  The  Republicans  carried 
Illinois  that  autumn  for  Fremont.  Two  years  later,  Lin 
coln  and  Douglas  traversed  the  State  in  their  famous  series 
of  joint  debates.  The  main  issue  was  slavery  in  the  ter 
ritories;  the  background  was  the  general  attitude  of  the 
white  man  toward  the  negro.  Douglas  held  that  the  whole 
business  was  a  question  for  white  men  only.  If  they 
wanted  slavery  in  any  Territory,  let  them  have  it.  If  they 
did  not  want  it,  let  them  keep  it  out — unless  the  Supreme 
Court  forbade.  Lincoln  summed  up  this  "  popular  sove- 


Abraham  Lincoln  181 

reignty  "  doctrine :  "If  one  man  wants  to  make  another 
man  a  slave,  a  third  man  has  no  right  to  prevent  him ! " 
His  position  was  that  the  nation's  duty  was  to  hold  the  com 
mon  domain  for  freedom,  and  that  this  was  the  business 
of  Congress.  Douglas  constantly  twitted  Lincoln  with 
belief  in  negro  equality.  This  Lincoln  disclaimed;  he  did 
not  believe  in  the  negro's  equality  with  the  white  man ;  did 
not  believe  in  making  him  a  voter  or  a  juror;  but  because 
an  inferior,  had  a  negro  no  rights?  Lincoln's  anti-slavery 
position  was  very  moderate ;  in  reply  to  Douglas's  challenge, 
he  disclaimed  any  disposition  to  agitate  against  the  fugi 
tive  slave  law ;  as  to  practical  restriction,  he  had  nothing  to 
urge  except  exclusion  from  the  territories.  Here  he  was 
emphatic,  and  he  protested  earnestly  against  Douglas's  "  not 
caring  whether  slavery  was  voted  up  or  voted  down." 

The  best  test  which  the  debate  gave  of  his  quality  was 
the  memorable  passage  in  which  he  declared  his  conviction 
that  "  A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  I  be 
lieve  this  government  cannot  permanently  endure  half  slave 
and  half  free."  In  this  he  rose  above  his  wonted  level,  and 
spoke  with  a  prophet's  forecast..  He  read  this  passage  in 
advance  to  a  group  of  the  party  leaders.  Though,  after 
this  bold  opening,  the  speech  was  only  a  calm  and  weighty 
argument  that  the  interest  of  slavery  was  being  deliberately 
and  systematically  promoted  by  all  branches  of  the  De 
mocracy, — yet  all,  except  Herndon,  were  alarmed  at  this 
passage,  and  besought  Lincoln  to  withhold  it.  But  he 
answered  soberly  and  half-mournfully  that  it  expressed  his 
full  conviction,  and  he  would  face  defeat  rather  than  sup 
press  it.  In  the  immediate  result,  it  injured  his  cause;  a 
general  comment  of  Republicans,  through  the  campaign, 
says  Herndon,  was  "  Damn  that  fool  speech !  " 

Douglas  won  the  Legislature  and  the  senatorship,  though 
Lincoln  won  the  popular  majority.  When  he  was  asked 


1 82  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

how  he  felt  about  his  defeat,  he  answered :  "  I  feel  as  the 
boy  did  when  he  stubbed  his  toe, — he  was  too  big  to  cry, 
and  it  hurt  too  bad  to  laugh !  "  The  country  at  large, 
which  had  closely  watched  the  debate,  forgot  him  for  two 
years.  Early  in  1860  he  was  invited  to  lecture  in  New  York. 
He  was  not  regarded  as  a  Presidential  candidate ;  and  when 
he  appeared, — in  clothes  full  of  creases  from  his  carpet-bag, 
with  no  press  copy  of  his  speech  and  not  expecting  the 
newspapers  to  report  it — he  was  such  a  figure  as  to  his  audi 
ence  in  Cooper  Institute  seemed  to  give  little  promise.  But 
he  carried  them  with  him  completely,  and  the  next  morning 
the  seven-column  report  in  the  Tribune  told  the  country 
that  in  this  man  there  was  a  new  force  to  reckon  with.  The 
speech  ranks  with  the  great  historical  orations  of  the 
country.  The  first  part  was  a  careful  review  of  the  posi 
tion  which  the  signers  of  the  Constitution  took  in  their 
individual  capacity  as  to  the  right  of  Congress  to  regulate 
or  exclude  slavery  from  the  territories.  He  showed  by 
specific  proof  that  of  the  thirty-nine  signers  twenty-one 
voted  definitely  on  various  occasions  for  Congressional 
Acts  which  did  so  exclude  or  regulate  slavery;  and  that  of 
the  remaining  eighteen  almost  all  were  known  to  have  held 
the  same  opinion.  This  was  a  masterly  refutation  of  the 
claim  of  Douglas  and  the  Democracy  that  the  fathers  of 
the  nation  were  on  their  side  as  to  the  territorial  question. 
Lincoln  then  passed  to  a  broader  view,  and  inquired: 
What  can  we  do  th'at  will  really  satisfy  the  South  ?  Every 
word  is  sober,  temperate,  well-weighed.  The  South,  he 
showed,  is  really  taking  very  little  interest  now  in  the  Terri 
tories.  It  is  excited  about  the  John  Brown  raid,  and  accuses 
the  Republican  party  of  responsibility  for  that.  But  not  a 
single  Republican  was  implicated  in  the  raid — not  one. 
You,  said  Lincoln,  addressing  the  South — interpret  your 
constitutional  rights  in  a  different  way  from  what  we  do, 


Abraham  Lincoln  183 

and  say  if  we  do  not  admit  your  interpretation, — if  we  elect 
a  Republican  president, — you  will  break  up  the  Union. 
But  this  is  simply  the  highwayman's  plea.  What,  then,  can 
we  Republicans  do  to  satisfy  the  South?  We  must  not 
only  let  them  alone,  but  somehow  convince  them  that  we 
do  let  them  alone.  In  a  word,  this  and  this  only  will  con 
vince  them;  we  must  cease  to  call  slavery  wrong,  and  join 
them  in  calling  it  right.  And  this  must  be  done  thoroughly, 
— done  in  acts  as  well  as  in  words.  Silence  will  not  be 
tolerated;  we  must  place  ourselves  avowedly  with  them. 
"  Douglas's  new  sedition  law  must  be  enacted  and  en 
forced,  suppressing  all  declarations  that  slavery  is  wrong, 
whether  made  in  politics,  in  presses,  in  pulpits,  or  in  private. 
We  must  arrest  and  return  their  fugitive  slaves  with  greedy 
pleasure.  We  must  pull  down  our  Free-State  constitutions. 
The  whole  atmosphere  must  be  disinfected  from  all  taint 
of  opposition  to  slavery,  before  they  will  cease  to  believe 
that  all  their  troubles  proceed  from  us." 

Thus  he  concludes :  "  If  our  sense  of  duty  forbids  this, 
then  let  us  stand  by  our  duty  fearlessly  and  effectively. 
Let  us  be  diverted  by  none  of  those  sophistical  contrivances 
wherewith  we  are  so  industriously  plied  and  belabored, — 
contrivances  such  as  groping  for  some  middle  ground  be 
tween  the  right  and  the  wrong,  vain  as  the  search  for  a 
man  who  should  be  neither  a  living  man  nor  a  dead  man, — 
such  as  a  policy  of  '  don't  care  '  on  a  question  about  which 
all  true  men  do  care, — such  as  Union  appeals  beseeching 
true  Union  men  to  yield  to  disunionists,  reversing  the  divine 
rule,  and  calling,  not  the  sinners,  but  the  righteous,  to  re 
pentance, — such  as  invocations  to  Washington,  imploring 
men  to  unsay  what  Washington  said  and  undo  what  Wash 
ington  did.  Neither  let  us  be  slandered  from  our  duty 
by  false  accusations  against  us,  nor  frightened  from  it  by 
menaces  of  destruction  to  the  government,  nor  of  dungeons 


184  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

to  ourselves.  Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might; 
and  in  that  faith,  let  us,  to  the  end,  dare  to  do  our  duty  as 
we  understand  it." 

In  behalf  of  the  South,  Jefferson  Davis,  at  about  this 
time,  presented  in  the  Senate,  as  their  ultimatum,  a  set  of 
resolutions.  These  called  for  the  recognition  of  slave- 
property  as  an  indefeasible  right  of  territorial  settlers,  en 
titled  to  congressional  protection;  for  the  enforcement  of 
the  fugitive  slave  law,  and  the  repeal  of  the  "  personal 
liberty  laws  "  by  which  it  was  hindered  or  nullified  in  many 
States;  and  in  general,  for  the  rebuke  of  all  anti-slavery 
agitation.  This  was  an  exact  equivalent  of  Lincoln's  in 
terpretation  of  the  South's  demand;  the  North  must  say 
that  slavery  is  right,  and  act  accordingly.  And  this  was 
indeed  an  ultimatum,  with  the  distinct  intimation :  "  This, 
or  we  dissolve  the  Union.'1 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  ELECTION  OF   1860 

Now  came  on  the  battle  in  the  Presidential  convention.  The 
Democratic  convention  was  dramatic  and  momentous.  It 
met  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  in  the  last  days  of  April,  1860. 
The  struggle  was  between  Douglas  and  the  extreme  South. 
The  contest  was  not  over  the  nomination,  but  on  the  resolu 
tions.  The  Douglas  party  proposed  the  reaffirmation  of 
the  Cincinnati  platform  of  1856,  of  which  the  kernel  lay 
in  the  words :  "  Non-intervention  by  Congress  with  slavery 
in  State  or  Territory  " ;  and  to  this  they  would  now  add 
only  a  clause  referring  doubtful  constitutional  points  to  the 
Supreme  'Court.  But  the  Southern  party  would  accept 
nothing  short  of  an  affirmation  that  in  the  Territories  until 
organized  as  States,  the  right  of  slave-holding  was  absolute 
and  indefeasible,  and  Congress,  was  bound  to  protect  it. 
On  this  issue  the  dispute  in  the  convention  was  obstinate 
and  irreconcilable. 

The  South  had  long  held  unbroken  sway  in  the  Democ 
racy  and  in  the  nation.  It  had  absolutely  controlled  the  last 
two  administrations,  though  headed  by  Northern  men.  Its 
hold  on  the  Senate  had  been  unbroken,  and  temporary  suc 
cesses  of  the  Republicans  in  the  House  had  borne  no  fruit. 
The  Supreme  Court  had  gone  even  beyond  the  demands  of 
the  South.  Only  in  Kansas  had  its  cause  been  lost,  because 
the  attempt  to  coerce  a  whole  territorial  population  had  at 
last  provoked  revolt  in  the  Northern  Democracy.  The 
breach  had  been  in  some  sort  healed,  but  the  leader  of  the 

185 


1 86  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

revolt  was  not  forgiven  or  trusted.  Meantime  the  alarm 
at  John  Brown's  raid  had  intensified  the  South's  hostility 
to  all  opponents  or  critics.  All  through  the  winter  there 
had  been  constant  expulsion  of  anti-slavery  men  from  that 
section.  And  now  the  Southern  forces  mustered  in  the  con 
vention  of  the  party  they  had  so  long  controlled,  insistent 
and  imperious,  rejecting  anything  short  of  the  fullest  affir 
mation  of  their  claims  in  the  territories. 

Douglas  was  not  on  the  ground,  but  through  his  lieu 
tenants,  and  still  more  through  the  spirit  he  had  infused 
into  his  followers,  he  was  a  great  and  decisive  power.  In 
the  Senate  he  had  been  almost  isolated  among  the  Demo 
crats;  of  late  only  Senator  Pugh  of  Ohio  had  stood  with 
him  against  the  administration.  But  he  had  appealed  to  the 
people,  and  they  had  answered  the  call  of  the  sturdy,  au 
dacious  leader.  However  he  might  at  times  court  the 
favor  of  the  South,  he  really  stood  for  a  broad  and  simple 
principle, — the  right  of  the  majority  of  white  men  to  rule. 
For  the  negroes  he  cared  nothing.  But,  in  the  territories, 
the  majority  of  white  men  should  have  slavery  or  not  as 
they  pleased.  In  the  Democratic  party,  the  majority  should 
control.  And,  in  the  last  resort,  in  the  nation  itself  the 
majority  should  rule.  Douglas  thus  stood  squarely  for  the 
rule  of  the  majority  within  the  white  race.  The  Republi 
cans  coupled  with  the  supremacy  of  the  legal  majority  in 
the  nation  the  right  and  obligation  of  the  majority  to  main 
tain  the  personal  freedom  of  the  negro,  except  where  the 
Constitution  allowed  the  States  to  maintain  slavery.  The 
Southern  Democracy  asserted  as  its  paramount  principle  the 
right  of  slave-holding  wherever  the  flag  flew,  except  where 
the  State  constitution  forbade.  If  that  right  was  denied 
or  limited — by  a  majority  in  the  Democracy,  or  by  a  ma 
jority  in  the  nation — then  beware! 

The  Douglas  men  met  the  threat  with  a  defiance, — not 


The  Election  of  1860  187 

wordy,  but  resolute.  In  Charleston,  the  stronghold  and 
citadel  of  the  South,  with  their  leader  absent,  with  the  dis 
ruption  of  the  party  impending,  they  stood  their  ground. 
The  majority  should  rule,  or  they  would  know  the  reason 
why!  They  decisively  outvoted  their  opponents  as  to  the 
platform.  Then  the  delegates  from  South  Carolina  and  the 
Gulf  States  deliberately  and  solemnly  marched  out  of  the 
hall,  and  organized  a  separate  convention.  With  that  act 
the  rift  began  to  open  which  was  to  be  closed  only  after 
four  years  of  war. 

With  what  expectation  did  the  extreme  South  thus  break 
up  the  party?  Did  they  believe  that  their  Northern  asso 
ciates  would  again  capitulate,  as  they  had  done  so  often 
before?  Failing  that,  did  they  not  know  that  a  divided 
Democracy  meant  victory  for  the  Republicans?  and  had 
they  not  committed  themselves  in  that  event  to  dissolve  the 
Union?  Were  they  deliberately  courting  disunion,  and 
wilfully  throwing  away  the  large  chance  of  continued 
dominance  within  the  Union  which  a  united  Democracy 
might  have?  Did  they  really  attach  supreme  importance 
to  this  dogma  about  the  territories,  when  Kansas  had 
shown  how  inevitably  the  local  population  must  determine 
the  question,  even  against  the  efforts  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment?  Did  the  Southern  leaders  prefer  the  election  of  a 
Republican,  their  open  opponent,  to  Douglas,  their  friend 
and  half-ally?  To  such  questions  as  these  there  can  be 
little  more  than  a  conjectural  answer.  It  would  be  most 
interesting  to  know  the  true  thoughts  and  purposes  of  the 
leading  delegates.  We  shall  see  a  little  later  the  interpre 
tation  given  by  one  of  their  defenders.  But  the  strong 
presumption  is  that  their  action  was  the  fruit  less  of  a 
policy  than  of  a  temper.  They  had  long  been  growing  into 
a  disposition  which  could  brook  no  resistance  and  no  con 
tradiction.  The  irresponsible  power  of  the  master  over  his 


1 88  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

slaves;  the  domination  of  the  slave-holding  class  over  the 
local  communities,  and  the  expulsion  of  their  opponents; 
the  control  of  the  government  by  a  united  South  over  a 
divided  North, — these  things  had  bred  a  self-confidence  and 
self-assertion  which  would  stop  at  nothing.  The  slave- 
holding  principle,  in  full  flower,  was  a  principle  which 
recked  nothing  of  legal  majorities  or  governments.  Its 
basis  was  force,  and  it  would  use  whatever  force  was  neces 
sary  to  maintain  itself. 

The  Douglas  Democrats  were  still  patient.  Left  with 
the  original  convention  in  their  hands,  they  declined  to 
press  their  advantage.  The  traditional  rule  required  a  two- 
thirds  vote  to  nominate ;  and  it  was  agreed  that  for  this 
purpose  the  seats  left  vacant  by  the  seceders  must  be 
counted, — which  would  prevent  the  nomination  of  Douglas. 
Administration  men  from  the  North  had  stayed  in  the  con 
vention  when  their  Southern  friends  left.  The  body  ad 
journed,  to  meet  in  Baltimore  in  the  last  of  June.  The  rival 
convention  met  in  Richmond  only  to  adjourn  to  the  same 
time  and  place.  But  any  hopes  of  reunion  were  vain. 
Neither  side  would  yield.  In  the  regular  convention,  to 
some  of  the  vacant  seats  Douglas  delegates  had  in  the 
interim  been  chosen.  They  were  admitted,  against  the  pro 
test  of  the  administration  minority,  who  found  in  this  a 
pretext  for  withdrawing  and  joining  the  seceding  conven 
tion.  With  these  went  a  majority  of  the  Massachusetts 
delegates,  including  Benjamin  F.  Butler  and  Caleb  Gush 
ing;  Gushing  had  been  president  of  the  Charleston  body. 
The  two  conventions  now  made  their  respective  nominations. 
With  Douglas  was  joined  for  Vice-President  Herschel  V. 
Johnson  of  Georgia.  The  seceders  nominated  John  C. 
Breckinridge  of  Kentucky  and  Joseph  Lane  of  Oregon. 
Breckinridge  was  Vice-President  under  Buchanan;  a  man 
of  character  and  ability,  of  fine  presence  and  bearing,  a 


The  Election  of  1860  189 

typical  Kentuckian,  afterward  a  general  in  the  Confederate 
service. 

Alexander  H.  Stephens  in  his  War  Between  the  States — 
perhaps  the  best  statement  of  the  Southern  side  of  the  whole 
case  that  has  ever  been  made, — says  that  this  secession  from 
the  party  was  made  (against  his  own  judgment)  not  reck 
lessly,  nor  to  provoke  disunion,  but  with  the  expectation  of 
electing  Breckinridge.  The  calculation  was  that  with  four 
Presidential  candidates  there  would  be  no  choice  by  the 
people,  and,  the  election  being  thrown  into  the  House, 
Breckinridge  would  be  chosen;  or,  if  the  House  could  not 
choose,  Lane  would  surely  be  elected  by  the  Senate.  This, 
says  Stephens,  was  the  view  of  President  Buchanan,  of 
Breckinridge,  Davis  and  a  great  majority  of  the  Charleston 
seceders.  Stephens  himself  considered  this  a  most  pre 
carious  and  hazardous  calculation,  wholly  insufficient  for  so 
grave  a  step.  So  obviously  sound  was  this  judgment,  that 
we  inevitably  recur  to  the  belief  that  the  Southern  seces 
sion  was  inspired  not  by  calculation,  but  by  a  temper  of 
self-assertion,  which  fitted  its  hopes  to  its  wishes. 

The  "  Constitutional  Union  "  party — legatee  of  the  Whig 
and  American  parties — held  a  convention  at  Baltimore  in 
May ;  resolved  simply  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Union  and 
Constitution  and  the  enforcement  of  the  laws;  and  nomi 
nated  John  Bell  of  Tennessee  and  Edward  Everett  of  Massa 
chusetts.  It  was  the  refuge  of  those  who  disliked  the  whole 
sectional  controversy,  and  were  indifferent  to  both  pro- 
slavery  and  anti-slavery  claims  in  comparison  with  peace 
and  union.  It  held  a  middle  position,  geographically  as 
well  as  in  sentiment,  and  was  strong  in  the  border  States. 

The  Republican  convention  met  in  Chicago  in  May.  It 
was  a  more  sophisticated  body  than  its  predecessor  of  1856; 
with  less  of  youthful  and  spontaneous  enthusiasm  for  a 
principle,  and  more  of  keen 


190  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

But  it  represented  a  disciplined  and  powerful  party,  clear 
and  strong  in  its  essential  principles,  and  looking  confidently 
to  a  national  victory  as  almost  within  its  grasp.  The  plat 
form  affirmed  its  familiar  doctrines  as  to  slavery,  and  threw 
out  various  inviting  propositions  as  to  foreign  immigrants, 
a  homestead  law,  a  Pacific  railroad,  etc.  The  vote  of  Penn 
sylvania  being  important  and  doubtful,  a  bait  was  thrown 
out  in  a  high-tariff  resolution.  When  a  year  or  two  later 
the  exigencies  of  the  war  demanded  a  large  revenue,  this 
was  obtained  partly  by  a  high  tariff.  In  these  circum 
stances  originated  the  Protectionist  character  of  the  Repub 
lican  party ;  a  character  confirmed  by  the  natural  alliance 
of  the  favored  interests  with  the  favoring  power. 

The  most  prominent  and  in  a  sense  logical  candidate  was 
William  H.  Seward.  As  Governor  and  then  Senator  of  New 
York,  as  a  polished  and  philosophic  orator,  as  a  man  whose 
anti-slavery  and  constitutional  principles  were  well  under 
stood, — he  was  easily  in  the  popular  estimate  the  foremost 
man  of  the  party.  Lincoln  was  in  comparison  obscure ;  his 
fame  rested  mainly  on  his  achievements  as  a  popular 
debater;  he  was  wholly  unversed  in  executive  work  and 
almost  equally  so  in  legislation ;  highly  esteemed  in  his  own 
State,  but  little  known  beyond  its  borders.  He  had  been 
proposed  for  the  Presidency  only  a  week  before  in  the  State 
convention,  with  great  hurrahing  for  "  the  rail-splitter," 
"  honest  old  Abe."  It  seemed  hardly  more  than  one  of  the 
"  favorite  son "  candidacies  which  every  canvass  knows 
in  plenty.  But  he  was  supported  by  a  group  of  very  skillful 
Illinois  politicians.  They  worked  up  the  local  sentiment  in 
his  favor;  they  filled  the  galleries  of  the  Wigwam  at  day 
light  of  the  decisive  day,  and  they  took  quieter  and  effective 
measures.  Simon  Cameron  claimed  to  control  the  vote  of 
Pennsylvania  in  the  convention,  and  a  bargain  was  made 
with  him  that  if  Lincoln  were  elected  he  should  have  a 


The  Election  of  1860  191 

seat  in  the  Cabinet.  Lincoln  was  not  a  party  to  the  compact, 
but  when  informed  of  it  afterward  he  reluctantly  made  good 
his  part.  The  same  thing  was  done  with  the  friends  of 
Caleb  B.  Smith  of  Indiana,  and  with  a  like  sequel. 

Meantime,  Seward  met  such  difficulties  as  always  beset 
the  first  favorite  in  a  race.  The  old  alliance  between 
Seward,  Weed  and  Greeley,  had  been  broken,  with  anger 
and  resentment  on  Greeley's  part,  and  he  was  now  on  the 
floor  of  the  convention  actively  opposing  his  old  ally.  Will 
iam  M.  Evarts  led  the  New  York  delegation  for  Seward. 
Edward  Bates  of  Missouri  had  some  support,  as  more 
moderate  than  Seward  in  his  anti-slavery  principles,  but  he 
was  too  colorless  a  candidate  to  draw  much  strength.  One 
of  Seward's  friends,  in  seeking  to  win  over  the  Bates  men, 
declared  that  Lincoln  was  just  as  radical  as  Seward.  A 
newspaper  containing  this  being  shown  to  Lincoln,  he 
penciled  on  the  margin  a  reply  which  was  forwarded  to  his 
supporters,  "  Lincoln  agrees  with  Seward  in  his  irrepress 
ible-conflict  idea,  and  in  negro  equality ;  but  he  is  opposed  to 
Seward's  higher  law."  The  "  irrepressible  conflict "  was 
the  exact  counterpart  of  the  "  house  divided  against  itself." 
"  Negro  equality "  marked  a  distinct  advance  since  the 
Douglas  debate  two  years  before,  and  such  advance,  gradual 
but  steady,  was  characteristic  of  Lincoln.  It  was  no  less 
characteristic  of  him  to  disclaim  the  "  higher  law  "  doctrine, 
— an  obligation  recognized  by  the  individual  conscience  as 
paramount  to  all  human  enactments.  Indeed  Seward, 
though  the  phrase  was  his,  was  as  little  an  idealist  of  the 
individual  conscience  as  was  Lincoln. 

Of  the  circumstances  just  mentioned,  a  part  belongs  to 
the  undercurrents  which  few  spectators  at  the  time  discerned. 
What  the  crowd  and  the  world  saw  was  three  successive 
ballots.  First,  Seward,  173!;  Lincoln,  102;  Cameron,  50^; 
Chase  and  Bates  following  close.  Then  Cameron's  name 


192  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

was  withdrawn,  and  Lincoln  shot  up  abreast  of  Seward.  A 
third  ballot,  and  Lincoln  went  up,  up  till  he  touched  the  line 
of  a  clear  majority.  Then  the  Wigwam  roared;  the  guns 
boomed ;  in  the  first  subsidence  of  the  cheering  Evarts  gal 
lantly  moved  that  the  choice  be  made  unanimous, — and  the 
tall,  homely  Illinois  lawyer  was  the  Republican  candidate 
for  the  Presidency.  If  the  result  was  not  without  its  illus 
trations  of  his  own  definition  of  politics — "  the  combination 
of  individual  meannesses  for  the  general  good," — he  at  least 
had  sacrificed  nothing  of  his  convictions,  had  not  worked 
for  his  own  elevation,  or  smirched  his  hands.  And,  unproved 
though  he  was  as  to  administrative  power  and  seamanship 
in  a  cyclone,  there  was  yet  a  singular  and  intrinsic  fitness  in 
his  candidacy.  His  recognized  quality  was  that  which  is 
basal  and  dear  to  the  common  people,  honesty;  honesty  in 
thought,  word  and  act.  In  his  convictions,  he  was  near  to 
the  great  mass  of  the  party  of  freedom  as  it  actually  was ; 
frankly  opposed  to  slavery,  but  reverent  and  tenacious  of  the 
established  order,  even  though  it  gave  slavery  a  certain 
standing-ground.  He  had,  too,  that  intimate  sympathy  with 
the  common  people,  that  knowledge  of  their  thoughts  and 
ways,  that  respect  for  their  collective  judgment  and  will  as 
the  ultimate  arbiter — which  are  the  essential  traits  in  a 
great  leader  of  democracy. 

In  the  four-sided  canvass  which  followed,  the  lines  were 
not  strictly  geographical.  The  Republican  party  indeed  took 
its  Vice-Presidential  candidate  from  the  North — Hannibal 
Hamlin  of  Maine ;  for  no  Southern  man  was  likely  to  invite 
exile  or  worse  by  taking  the  place;  and  the  Republican 
electoral  tickets  had  no  place  or  only  a  nominal  one  south 
of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  except  in  Missouri,  where  the 
emancipation  idea  was  still  alive.  But  the  three  other  parties 
contested  with  each  other  in  all  the  States.  In  Massachu 
setts,  the  Breckinridge  party  had  as  its  candidate  for  Gov- 


The  Election  of  1860  193 

ernor  the  unscrupulous  Butler;  and  among  its  supporters 
was  Caleb  Gushing,  erudite,  brilliant,  conscienceless,  and  a 
pro-slavery  bigot.  At  the  South,  the  Douglas  party  had 
considerable  strength.  The  hot-heads  who  had  split  the 
Democracy  and  were  ready  to  divide  the  nation  had  by  no 
means  an  undisputed  ascendency.  Stephens  and  Toombs 
parted  company ;  they  headed  respectively  the  Douglas  and 
Breckinridge  electoral  tickets  in  Georgia.  Davis  spent  part 
of  the  summer  in  privacy  at  the  North;  he  saw  enough  to 
convince  him  that  the  North  would  fight  if  challenged,  but 
the  warning  was  in  vain. 

The  special  interest  of  the  campaign  centered  in  the 
menace  of  disunion.  The  territorial  question  in  itself  had 
grown  almost  wearisome,  and  had  no  immediate  application. 
The  fugitive  slave  law  had  fallen  into  the  background; 
renditions  were  so  uncertain  and  dangerous  that  they  were 
seldom  attempted.  John  Brown's  foray  was  to  the  North 
a  bygone  affair,  with  no  dream  of  its  repetition.  The  few 
promoters  of  his  project  had  shrunk  back  at  the  catastrophe ; 
the  mass  of  the  people  had  always  looked  on  it  as  a  crazy 
affair;  and  with  personal  sympathy  or  honor  for  him,  the 
raid  was  almost  forgotten, — but  the  South  could  not  so  easily 
forget.  But  the  Living  and  burning  issue  was  the  threat  of 
secession  if  Lincoln  should  be  elected, — a  threat  made  openly 
and  constantly  at  the  South.  The  campaign  was  full  of  bit 
terness.  "  Black  Republicans  "  was  a  term  in  constant  use. 
The  violent  language  was  not  all  at  the  South.  Gushing 
declared,  when  in  the  preceding  autumn  Massachusetts 
reflected  Banks  as  governor,  "  A  band  of  drunken  mutineers 
have  seized  hold  of  the  opinion  of  this  commonwealth — the 
avowed  and  proclaimed  enemies  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States," — with  further  hysteric  talk  about  the  ship 
of  state,  with  the  pirate's  flag  at  the  masthead,  drifting  into 
the  gulf  of  perdition.  The  New  York  Herald  was  full  of 


194  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

wild  and  inflammatory  words.  Papers  of  a  different  char 
acter — like  the  Boston  Courier,  representative  of  the  party 
which  included  Everett  and  Winthrop — habitually  charged 
the  Republican  party  with  John  Brownism  and  disunionism. 
The  South  not  unnaturally  believed  that  the  North  was 
seriously  divided,  and  could  never  hold  together  against  its 
claims.  But  most  Northern  people  regarded  the  disunion 
threats  as  mere  gasconade, — meant  only  to  carry  an  election, 
and  then  to  be  quietly  dropped.  But  if  they  were  meant  in 
earnest, — well,  there  would  be  something  to  be  said,  and 
done  too,  on  the  other  side. 

Douglas,  with  almost  no  chance  of  success,  made  a  bold 
and  active  canvass.  Through  this  year  he  showed  a  courage 
far  higher  than  the  mere  dexterity  which  had  been  his 
chief  distinction  before.  In  part,  it  was  an  expression  of  a 
changing  temper  in  the  people.  He  stood  openly  and  stoutly 
for  the  principle  of  majority  rule.  While  speaking  at  Wheel 
ing,  Va.,  he  was  questioned  as  to  whether  he  held  that  the 
election  of  Lincoln  would  justify  secession.  He  answered 
promptly  that  it  would  not,  and  if  secession  were  attempted, 
he  would  support  a  Republican  President  in  putting  it  down 
by  force.  That  pledge  to  the  country  he  redeemed,  when  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  gave  his  immediate  and  full 
adherence  to  President  Lincoln, — representing  and  leading 
the  "  War  Democrats  "  who  practically  solidified  the  North, 
and  insured  its  victory.  At  Wheeling,  he  passed  on  the 
question  answered  by  him  for  Breckinridge  to  answer.  But 
Breckinridge  ignored  the  challenge, — a  silence  which  was 
what  the  lawyers  call  a  "  pregnant  negative." 

November  brought  victory  to  the  Republicans.  In  the 
popular  vote,  Lincoln  had  about  1,860,000;  Douglas,  1,370,- 
ooo ;  Breckinridge,  840,000 ;  and  Bell,  590,000.  The  electoral 
votes  stood — or  would  have  stood,  if  the  electoral  conven 
tions  had  all  met — Lincoln,  180;  Breckinridge,  72;  Bell,  39; 


The  Election  of  1860  195 

Douglas,  12.  Lincoln  carried  every  Northern  State  except 
New  Jersey;  Douglas,  only  part  of  New  Jersey  and  Mis 
souri;  Bell,  Virginia,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee;  Breckin- 
ridge,  all  the  rest  of  the  South.  The  successful  candidate 
was  thus  in  a  popular  minority, — no  new  thing.  The  dis 
tinctively  Southern  candidate  was  doubly  in  a  minority.  The 
supporters  of  Lincoln,  Douglas  and  Bell,  were  all  to  be 
counted  against  the  extreme  Southern  claim,  and  much  more 
against  any  assertion  of  that  claim  by  secession.  Unitedly, 
their  support  outnumbered  that  of  Breckinridge  by  more 
than  four  to  one.  If  ever  a  party  was  fairly  and  overwhelm 
ingly  out-voted,  it  was  the  party  whose  central  doctrine  was 
that  slavery  must  be  protected  in  the  United  States  ter 
ritories. 

Now  the  question  was,  would  that  party  acquiesce  in  the 
decision  of  the  majority?  At  every  previous  election  in 
the  nation's  history  the  minority  had  acquiesced  promptly 
and  loyally.  When  Jefferson  was  elected,  New  England 
looked  on  the  new  President  as  a  Jacobin  in  politics  and  an 
infidel  in  religion.  But  New  England  acquiesced  without  an 
hour's  hesitation.  When  Jackson  was  chosen,  his  opponents 
saw  in  him  a  rude  and  ignorant  demagog.  But  the  anti- 
Jackson  people  accepted  the  new  President  as  they  had 
accepted  Monroe  and  Adams.  In  the  choice  of  Buchanan, 
the  Republicans  saw  an  assertion  of  the  nationalism  of 
slavery,  and  a  menace  of  the  subjugation  of  Kansas.  But 
the  supporters  of  Fremont  recognized  Buchanan  as  unhes 
itatingly  as  if  he  had  been  their  own  choice.  What  was  the 
meaning  of  popular  government,  except  that  the  minority 
should  submit  to  the  legitimate  victory  of  the  majority?  On 
what  did  the  nation's  existence  rest,  but  the  loyalty  of  its 
citizens  to  the  nation's  self-determination  in  its  elections? 
And  now,  would  the  minority  resist  the  decision  of  the 
majority?  Would  the  Southern  States  attempt  to  break  up 


196  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  Union?  The  North  could  not  and  would  not  believe  it. 
But  there  was  a  strong  party  at  the  South  which  was  fully 
convinced  that  the  election  of  Lincoln  was  the  crown  of  a 
series  of  grievances  which  justified  the  South  in  withdraw 
ing  from  the  Union ;  that  such  withdrawal  was  a  clear  con 
stitutional  right;  and  that  the  honor  and  interest  of  the 
South  demanded  that  it  be  made. 


CHAPTER   XXI 

FACE   TO   FACE 

To  understand  the  meaning  of  secession  and  the  Civil  War 
which  followed  it,  we  must  fathom  the  thoughts  and  feelings 
of  the  opposing  parties.  Let  us  suppose  two  representative 
spokesmen  to  state  their  case  in  turn. 

Let  the  Secessionist  speak  first.  The  Secessionists  were 
not  at  first  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the  Southern  States, 
but  it  was  their  view  which  prevailed.  What  that  view  was 
we  know  certainly  and  from  abundant  evidence, — the  formal 
acts  of  secession,  the  speeches  of  the  leaders  in  Congress 
and  at  home,  the  histories  since  written  by  the  President 
and  Vice-President  of  the  Confederacy,  and  countless  sim 
ilar  sources.  This,  substantially,  was  the  Secessionist's 
position : — 

"  This  Union  is  a  partnership  of  States,  of  which  the 
formal  bond  is  the  Constitution;  the  vital  principle  is  the 
enjoyment  by  each  section  and  community  of  its  rights ;  and 
the  animating  spirit  is  the  mutual  respect  and  good-will  of 
all  members  of  the  Union.  The  Northern  people  have  vio 
lated  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution ;  they  have  infringed 
the  essential  rights  of  the  Southern  communities,  and 
threatened  to  invade  them  still  further;  and  they  have  dis 
placed  the  spirit  of  mutual  good-will  by  alienation,  suspicion, 
and  hostility.  The  formal  bond  of  the  Union  being  thus 
impaired,  and  its  vital  spirit  lost,  we  propose  explicitly  and 
finally  to  dissolve  this  partnership  of  States,  and  reorganize 
our  Southern  communities  in  a  new  Confederacy. 

"  We  charge  you  of  the  North  with  explicit  violation  of 

197 


198  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  Constitution  in  the  matters  of  the  territories,  the  Supreme 
Court  and  the  fugitive  slaves. 

"  You  deny  our  right  to  carry  a  part  of  our  property, — 
our  unquestioned  property  under  the  Constitution, — into 
the  territories  which  belong  equally  to  the  whole  nation,  and 
which  have  been  acquired  by  our  treasure  and  our  blood  not 
less  than  by  yours.  You  prevent  slave-holders  from  par 
ticipating  in  the  colonization  of  this  domain,  and  thus  deter 
mine  in  advance  that  its  future  States  shall  exclude  our 
institutions.  You  thus  unfairly  build  up  a  political  pre 
ponderance,  which  you  use  for  the  discouragement  and 
injury  of  our  industrial  system. 

"  Against  this  wrong  we  have  appealed  to  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  secured  its  express  affirmation  of  the  right  to 
carry  slave  property,  equally  with  any  other  property,  into 
the  territories.  This  solemn  decree  of  the  highest  judicial 
authority  you  set  at  naught  and  defy.  You  say  you  will 
reorganize  the  court  and  reverse  the  decision.  You  do  not 
even  wait  for  that ;  you  assume  in  party  convention  to  reverse 
the  mandate  of  the  Supreme  Court.  You  not  only  contradict 
its  declaration  that  slavery  in  the  territories  is  protected 
by  the  Constitution;  you  go  farther,  and  affirm  that  Con 
gress  has  no  authority  to  protect  it  there. 

"  The  Constitution  affirms  that  fugitives  from  labor  must 
be  returned  to  their  masters.  A  Federal  statute  provides 
for  such  return.  That  statute  is  not  only  decried  by  your 
orators  and  resisted  by  your  mobs;  it  is  contravened  and 
practically  nullified  by  statutes  in  all  the  free  States. 

"  These  specific  wrongs  against  us  are  inspired  by  a  dis 
position  which  in  itself  dissolves  the  bond  of  friendship 
between  you  and  us, — a  spirit  of  open  and  avowed  hostility 
to  our  social  and  industrial  system.  The  Union  as  our 
fathers  established  it,  and  as  alone  it  has  any  value,  is  not 
a  thing  of  mere  legalities, — it  must  be  a  true  union  of  hearts 


Face  to  Face  199 

and  hands,  a  spirit  of  mutual  confidence  and  respect  among 
the  various  communities  of  one  people.  But  for  many  years 
our  most  characteristic  Southern  institution  has  been  widely 
and  loudly  denounced  among  you  as  wicked  and  inhuman. 
It  has  been  proclaimed  as  '  the  sum  of  all  villainies.'  We 
have  been  held  up  to  the  reprobation  of  the  world  as  tyrants 
and  man-stealers.  Those  at  the  North  who  disapproved 
of  such  abuse  have  failed  to  silence  or  repress  it.  This 
denunciation  has  spread  until  apparently  it  has  won  the  pre 
ponderating  sentiment  of  the  North.  A  national  household 
in  which  we  are  thus  branded  as  sinners  and  criminals  is 
no  longer  a  home  for  us. 

"  This  hostility  has  borne  its  natural  fruit  in  open  attack. 
A  peaceful  Virginia  village  has  been  assailed  by  armed  men, 
its  citizens  shot  down  while  defending  their  homes,  and  the 
summons  given  for  servile  insurrection  with  all  its  horrors. 
The  leader  in  this  crime,  justly  condemned  and  executed 
under  Virginia's  laws,  has  been  widely  honored  through 
out  the  North  as  a  hero  and  martyr.  By  the  light  of  that 
applause  we  must  interpret  the  real  feeling  of  the  North, 
and  its  probable  future  course  toward  us. 

"  The  Presidential  election  has  now  been  won  by  a  party 
whose  avowed  principle  is  the  restriction  of  slavery,  while 
its  animating  spirit  is  active  hostility  to  slavery.  We  cannot 
trust  the  Republican  party  in  its  profession  of  respect  for 
the  Constitution.  Even  in  its  formal  declaration  it  ignores 
a  Supreme  Court  decision,  and  advances  a  revolutionary 
doctrine  as  to  slavery  in  the  territories.  Its  elected  candi 
date  has  declared  that  '  this  government  cannot  endure 
permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.'  The  party's  only 
reason  for  being  is  opposition  to  slavery,  and  there  is  every 
probability  that  this  opposition  will,  with  growing  power 
and  opportunity,  be  directed  against  the  system  as  it  now 
exists  in  our  Southern  States. 


aoo  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

"  The  spirit  of  the  American  Union  is  dissolved  already, 
when  its  chief  magistrate  has  been  elected  by  the  votes  of 
one  section  and  by  a  party  animated  solely  by  hostility  to 
the  industrial  and  social  system  of  the  other  section.  The 
formal  bond  of  the  Union  can  hereafter  be  only  an  instru 
ment  to  harass  and  destroy  our  liberties.  We  therefore  pro 
pose  that  that  bond  be  at  once  and  finally  cancelled.  It  is 
and  has  been  from  the  beginning  the  right  of  any  State 
to  withdraw  from  the  national  partnership  at  its  own 
pleasure.  We  call  on  our  brethren  of  the  South  to  take 
prompt  action  for  the  deliberate,  legal  and  solemn  with 
drawal  of  their  States  from  the  Union,  and  their  organiza 
tion  in  a  new  Confederacy." 

So  in  effect  spoke  the  leading  spirits  of  the  Gulf  and  Cot 
ton  States  as  soon  as  Lincoln  was  elected  in  November,  1860. 
Less  promptly,  coming  only  gradually  into  unison,  but  with 
growing  clearness  and  emphasis,  spoke  the  dominant  spirit 
of  the  North  in  the  months  between  Lincoln's  election  and 
inauguration.  This  in  substance  was  the  Northern  reply  to 
the  Secessionist: — 

"  We  deny  that  we  have  violated  the  Constitution,  that  we 
have  wronged  you,  or  that  we  intend  to  wrong  you.  We 
have  taken  no  advantage  of  you  beyond  the  legitimate  vic 
tories  of  political  controversy.  We  are  loyal  to  the  Consti 
tution,  and  to  that  which  is  deeper  and  higher  than  the 
Constitution, — the  spirit  of  American  nationality. 

"  Taking  up  your  specific  charges, — the  status  of  slavery 
in  the  various  territories  has  been  debated  and  battled  in 
Congress  and  among  the  people  for  seventy  years,  and  as 
now  one  decision  and  now  another  has  been  reached  it  has 
been  accepted  by  all  until  peaceably  changed.  For  six 
years  past  it  has  been  the  cardinal  question  in  national 
politics.  Within  that  period  three  views  have  been  urged, 
• — that  slavery  goes  by  natural  and  constitutional  right  into 


Face  to  Face  201 

all  the  territories,  that  the  matter  is  to  be  settled  in  each  ter 
ritory  by  the  local  population,  and  that  slavery  should  be 
excluded  by  national  authority  from  all  the  territories.  For 
this  last  view  we  have  argued,  pleaded,  waited,  until  at  last 
the  supreme  tribunal  of  all — the  American  people  in  a 
national  election — has  given  judgment  in  our  favor. 

"  You  cite  the  Dred  Scott  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
as  establishing  slavery  in  the  territories.  But  you  wrest 
from  that  decision  a  force  which  it  does  not  legally  carry. 
The  best  lawyers  are  with  us  as  to  this.  The  court  at  the 
outset  dismissed  the  case  for  want  of  jurisdiction,  because 
Dred  Scott,  being  a  negro,  could  not  be  an  American  citizen, 
and  therefore  had  no  standing  before  the  court.  This  being 
said,  the  court  by  its  own  decision  could  go  no  farther  with 
the  case.  When  a  majority  of  the  judges  went  on  to  dis 
cuss  the  status  of  slavery  in  the  territories, — as  it  might  have 
come  up  if  they  had  gone  on  to  try  the  case  on  its  merits — 
they  were  uttering  a  mere  obiter  dictum, — a  personal  opinion 
carrying  no  judicial  authority.  The  attempt  to  make  these 
side-remarks  a  decisive  pronouncement  on  the  supreme 
political  question  of  the  time  is  beyond  law  or  reason.  It 
is  preposterous  that  the  court's  incidental  opinion,  on  a  case 
which  it  had  disclaimed  the  power  to  try,  should  invalidate 
that  exclusion  of  slavery  by  national  authority  which  had 
been  affirmed  by  the  great  acts  of  1787  and  1820,  and  had 
been  exercised  for  seventy  years. 

"  As  to  fugitive  slaves,  the  Personal  Liberty  laws  are 
designed  to  safeguard  by  the  State's  authority  its  free  black 
citizens  from  the  kidnapping  which  the  Federal  statute,  with 
its  refusal  of  a  jury  trial,  renders  easy.  If  they  sometimes 
make  difficulty  in  the  rendition  of  actual  fugitives, — you 
must  not  expect  a  whole-hearted  acceptance  of  the  role  of 
slave-catchers  by  the  Northern  people.  You  have  the  Fed 
eral  statute,  and  may  take  what  you  can  under  it, — but  if 


202  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

under  the  bond  Shylock  gets  only  his  pound  of  flesh,  there 
is  no  help  for  him. 

"  Come  now  to  your  broader  complaint,  that  the  spirit 
of  the  Union  has  been  sacrificed  by  Northern  hostility 
toward  your  peculiar  institution.  True,  you  have  had  to 
put  up  with  harsh  words,  but  we  have  had  to  put  up  with 
a  harsh  fact.  You  have  had  to  tolerate  criticism,  but  we 
have  had  to  tolerate  slavery  under  our  national  flag.  It  is 
an  institution  abhorrent  to  our  sense  of  right.  We  believe 
it  contrary  to  the  law  of  God  and  the  spirit  of  humanity. 
We  consider  it  unjust  in  its  essential  principle,  and  full  of 
crying  abuses  in  its  actual  administration.  Its  existence 
in  one  section  of  the  Union  is  a  reproach  to  us  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  and  a  blot  on  the  flag.  Yet  we  so 
thoroughly  recognize  that  our  national  principle  allows  each 
State  to  shape  its  own  institutions  that  we  have  not 
attempted  and  shall  not  attempt  to  hinder  you  from  cherish 
ing  slavery  among  yourselves  as  long  as  you  please.  If, 
for  the  vast  and  vital  interests  bound  up  with  the  unity  of 
this  nation,  we  can  tolerate  the  presence  within  it  of  a  sys 
tem  we  so  disapprove,  cannot  you  on  your  part  tolerate  the 
inevitable  criticism  which  it  calls  out  among  us? 

"  If  mutual  grievances  are  to  be  rehearsed,  we  have  our 
full  share.  What  has  become  of  the  constitutional  pro 
vision  which  guarantees  to  the  citizens  of  every  State  their 
rights  in  all  the  States?  When  black  seamen,  citizens  of 
our  commonwealths,  enter  South  Carolina  ports,  they  are 
thrown  into  jail  or  sold  into  slavery.  If  we  send  a  lawyer 
and  statesman  to  remonstrate,  he  is  driven  out.  Our  news 
papers  are  excluded  from  your  mails.  You  have  extin 
guished  free  speech  among  your  own  citizens.  If  the 
Republican  party  is  sectional,  it  is  because  any  man  who 
supports  it,  south  of  the  Ohio,  is  liable  to  abuse  and  exile. 
You  have  shaped  our  national  policy  in  lines  of  dishonor. 


Face  to  Face  203 

With  your  Northern  allies  you  have  forced  war  on  a  weak 
neighbor  and  dispoiled  her  of  territory.  You  have  poured 
thousands  of  fraudulent  voters  into  Kansas,  have  supported 
their  usurping  government  by  Federal  judges  and  troops, 
and  have  tolerated  the  ruffians  who  harried  peaceful  settlers. 
One  of  your  congressional  leaders  has  answered  a  senator's 
arguments  by  beating  him  into  insensibility,  and  you  have 
honored  and  reflected  the  assailant.  And  now,  when  we 
have  fairly  won  the  day  in  a  national  election,  and  for 
purposes  peaceful,  constitutional,  and  beneficent, —  you  pro 
pose  to  break  up  the  nation,  and  reorganize  your  part  of  it 
expressly  for  the  maintenance  and  promotion  of  slavery. 

"  With  such  complaints  on  your  part,  and  such  com 
plaints  on  ours,  what  is  the  manly,  the  patriotic,  the  suffi 
cient  recourse?  That  which  we  offer  is  that  you  and  we, 
the  whole  American  people,  go  forward  loyally  and  patiently 
with  the  familiar  duties  of  American  citizens.  Let  Time 
and  Providence  arbitrate  our  controversies.  Let  us  trust 
the  institutions  under  which  for  seventy  years  our  nation 
has  grown  great;  let  us,  now  and  hereafter,  acquiesce  in 
that  deliberate  voice  of  the  people  which  our  fathers  estab 
lished  as  the  sovereign  authority.  For  thirty  years  you 
have  had  in  the  Presidency  either  a  Southerner  or  a  North 
ern  man  with  Southern  principles, — and  we  acquiesced. 
Now  we  have  chosen  a  genuine  Northerner, — will  not  you 
acquiesce?  Four  years  ago  the  Presidential  contest  was 
held  on  the  same  lines  as  this  year ;  you  won,  and  we  cheer 
fully  submitted, — now  we  have  won,  will  not  you  loyally 
submit?  We  disclaim  any  attack  on  your  domestic  institu 
tions.  The  invasion  by  John  Brown  was  repudiated  by 
practically  the  entire  North.  Honor  for  a  brave,  mis 
guided  man  meant  no  approval  of  his  criminal  act.  For 
the  advance  of  our  distinctive  principles, — inimical,  we 
own,  to  your  system  of  slave  labor, — we  look  only  to  the 


204  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

gradual  conversion  of  individual  opinion,  and  to  the  ultimate 
acceptance  by  your  own  people  of  the  principles  of  universal 
liberty.  We  believe  that  civilization  and  Christianity  must 
steadily  work  to  establish  freedom  for  all  men.  On  that 
ground,  and  in  that  sense,  do  we  believe  that  '  this  govern 
ment  cannot  permanently  endure  half  slave  and  half  free.' 
Pending  that  advance,  we  propose  only  to  exclude  slavery 
from  the  common  domain;  to  tolerate  slavery  as  sectional, 
while  upholding  freedom  as  national.  If  you  are  still  dis 
satisfied,  yet  is  it  not  better  to  bear  the  evils  that  we  have 
than  fly  to  others  that  we  know  not  of?  Nay,  do  we  not  too 
well  know,  and  surely  if  dimly  foresee,  the  terrific  evils 
which  must  attend  the  attempted  disruption  of  this  nation? 
"  A  nation  it  is,  and  not  a  partnership.  A  nation,  one  and 
inseparable,  we  propose  that  it  shall  continue.  We  deny 
that  the  founders  and  fathers  ever  contemplated  a  mere 
temporary  alliance  dissoluble  at  the  caprice  of  any  member. 
To  the  Union,  established  under  the  Constitution,  just  as 
earnestly  as  to  the  cause  of  independence,  they  virtually 
pledged  '  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred  honor.' 
With  every  year  the  nation  has  knitted  its  texture  closer, 
as  its  benefits  increased  and  its  associations  grew.  A  nation 
is  something  other  than  a  pleasure  party,  or  a  mutual  admi 
ration  society, — it  includes  a  principle  of  rightful  authority 
and  necessary  submission.  The  harmony  vital  to  national 
unity  is  not  merely  a  mutual  complacence  of  the  members, 
— at  its  root  is  a  habitual,  disciplined  obedience  to  the 
central  authority,  which  in  a  democracy  is  the  orderly 
expressed  will  of  the  majority.  You  cannot  leave  us  and  we 
cannot  let  you  go.  And  if  you  attempt  to  break  the  bond,  it 
is  at  your  peril." 


CHAPTER  XXII 

HOW   THEY   DIFFERED 

IF  the  typical  Secessionist  and  the  typical  Unionist,  as  just 
described,  could  rally  a  united  South  and  a  united  North  to 
their  respective  views,  there  was  no  escape  from  a  violent 
clash.  Whether  the  two  sections  could  be  so  united  each 
in  itself  appeared  extremely  doubtful.  But  below  these 
special  questions  of  political  creed  were  underlying  diver 
gences  of  sentiment  and  character  between  North  and  South, 
which  fanned  the  immediate  strife  as  a  strong  wind  fans 
a  starting  flame.  There  was  first  a  long-growing  alienation 
of  feeling,  a  mutual  dislike,  rooted  in  the  slavery  -contro 
versy,  and  fed  partly  by  real  and  partly  by  imaginary  dif 
ferences.  Different  personal  and  social  ideals  were  fostered 
by  the  two  industrial  systems.  The  Southerner  of  the 
dominant  class  looked  on  manual  labor  as  fit  only  for 
slaves  and  low-class  whites.  His  ideal  of  society  was  a 
pyramid,  the  lower  courses  representing  the  physical  toilers, 
the  intermediate  strata  supplying  a  higher  quality  of  social 
service,  while  the  crown  was  a  class  refined  by  leisure  and 
cultivation  and  free  to  give  themselves  to  generous  and 
hospitable  private  life,  with  public  affairs  for  their  serious 
pursuit.  He  regarded  the  prominence  of  the  laboring 
class  in  Northern  communities  as  marking  the  inferiority 
of  their  society,  and  in  the  absorption  of  the  wealthier  class 
in  trade  he  read  a  further  disadvantage.  The  virtues  he 
most  honored  were  courage,  courtesy,  magnanimity, — all 
that  he  delighted  to  characterize  as  "  chivalry."  He  was 
inclined  to  consider  the  North  as  materialistic  and  mer- 

205 


206  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

cenary,  and  even  its  virtues  as  based  largely  on  "  honesty 
is  the  best  policy." 

This  low  opinion  was  heartily  reciprocated  by  the  North 
erner.  He  believed  the  very  foundation  of  Southern  society 
to  be  injustice, — the  unpaid  labor  of  the  slave, — and  the 
superstructure  to  correspond.  He  looked  on  the  slave 
holders  as  cruel  to  their  slaves  and  arrogant  toward  the 
world  at  large,  especially  toward  himself.  The  popular 
opinion  of  slavery  fastened  on  its  abuses  and  ignored  its 
mitigations.  On  the  average  reader  of  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin,  Legree  made  a  deeper  impression  than  St.  Clare 
or  Mrs.  Shelby. 

Even  the  religious  and  intellectual  life  of  the  two  sections 
had  grown  unsympathetic  and  often  antagonistic.  The 
South  held  tenaciously  to  the  traditional  orthodox  theology. 
In  the  North  there  was  free  discussion  and  movement  of 
thought.  Even  the  conservative  Presbyterian  church  had 
its  New  School  and  Old  School ;  and  in  New  England  the 
Congregational  body  was  divided  by  the  birth  and  growth 
of  Unitarianism.  At  all  this  turmoil  the  South  looked 
askance,  and  was  genuinely  shocked  by  the  disintegration  of 
the  old  creed.  The  North  in  turn  looked  with  something 
like  suspicion,  if  not  scorn,  on  a  Christianity  which  used 
the  Bible  as  an  arsenal  to  fortify  slavery.  The  Northern 
brood  of  reforms  and  isms, — wise,  unwise,  or  fantastic, — 
moved  the  South  to  a  hostility  which  made  little  discrimi 
nation  between  the  idealism  of  Emerson,  the  iconoclasm  of 
Parker,  and  the  vagaries  of  "  free  love."  The  group  of 
literary  lights, — Bryant,  Longfellow,  Lowell,  Whittier, 
Holmes,  and  their  compeers, — won  Southern  dislike  by  their 
hostility  to  slavery.  The  South  itself,  singularly  barren  of 
original  literature, — its  prolific  new  births  in  our  own  day 
are  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  fruits  of  emancipation, — 
clung  fondly  to  the  classical  and  feudal  traditions,  and 


How  They  Differed  207 

hardly  admitted  any  literary  sovereign  later  than  Scott  and 
Byron. 

In  a  national  union,  as  in  marriage,  there  may  be  long 
continuance  and  even  substantial  happiness  in  spite  of  many 
differences.  So  was  it  with  England  and  Scotland,  so  is 
it  with  Germany  and  with  Italy.  But  in  slavery  there  was 
so  profound  an  incompatibility  with  the  fact  and  idea  of 
personal  freedom  as  held  by  the  American  people  at  large, 
that  the  inevitable  opposition  of  the  two  systems  was  des 
perate  almost  beyond  cure.  That  opposition,  and  all  the 
attendant  circumstances  of  divergence,  were  aggravated  in 
their  divisive  effects  by  the  extreme  bitterness  of  the  fore 
most  debaters  on  both  sides.  The  very  nature  of  the  sub 
ject  tempted  to  vehement  criticism,  and  defense  of  equal 
vehemence.  But  there  was  a  great  aggravation  of  bitter 
ness  when,  in  the  van  of  the  attack  on  slavery,  the  temper 
of  Woolman  and  Lundy,  of  Jefferson  and  Franklin  and 
Channing,  was  replaced  by  the  temper  of  Garrison  and  his 
followers.  Their  violence  inflamed  alike  the  North  and  the 
South,  and,  with  the  answering  violence  it  provoked,  worked 
the  two  peoples  into  a  largely  false  and  unjust  conception 
of  each  other's  character.  The  South's  retort  was  no  less 
passionate  in  words,  while  in  act  it  took  form  in  expulsion 
of  citizens  and  suppression  of  free  speech.  Garrison's  burn 
ing  words,  and  the  polished  invective  of  Phillips,  live  in 
literature;  the  wrath  which  answered  them  in  Southern 
orators  and  newspapers  has  left  less  of  record ;  but  on  both 
sides  the  work  was  effectually  done  of  sowing  mutual 
suspicion  and  hate. 

If  only  North  and  South  could  have  known  each  other's 
best,  as  they  knew  each  other's  worst!  They  were  kept 
apart  by  the  want  of  any  stream  of  migration  between  them, 
like  that  which  united  East  and  West,  with  the  resulting 
network  of  family  connections  and  friendly  intercourse. 


208  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

Sometimes  a  Northern  visitor,  or  an  English  traveler  like 
Thackeray,  saw  and  appreciated  the  cultivated  society  of 
Charleston  or  Richmond,  or  plantation  life  at  its  best, — a 
hospitable,  genial,  outdoor  life,  with  masters  and  mistresses 
who  gave  their  best  thought  and  toil  to  the  care  of  their 
servants.  Sometimes  a  Southerner  had  a  revelation  like 
that  of  General  Zachary  Taylor,  when,  looking  from  one 
of  the  heights  in  Springfield,  "  the  city  of  homes,"  on  a 
landscape  thick  dotted  with  the  cheerful  abodes  of  an  indus 
trial  community,  he  exclaimed :  "  You  can  see  no  such 
sight  as  that  in  a  Southern  State !  "  And  always  there  were 
some  men  and  women  who  out  of  wide  knowledge  or  a 
natural  justice  recognized  and  loved  the  people  of  the  whole 
land.  But  too  frequently,  in  those  days,  the  Southerner  saw 
in  the  North  only  a  mass  of  plebeian  laborers  excited  by 
political  and  religious  fanaticism;  while  the  Northerner 
looked  south  to  a  group  of  tyrannical  and  arrogant  slave 
holders  lording  it  over  their  victims.  To  the  one,  the 
typical  figure  of  the  North  was  John  Brown;  to  the  other, 
the  representative  of  the  South  was  Brooks  of  South 
Carolina. 

There  were  two  other  marked  differences  between  the 
sections.  The  first  was  the  greater  concentration  of  interest 
in  the  South  on  national  politics,  and  the  leadership  conceded 
to  the  political  class.  In  the  North,  the  general  occupation 
in  laborious  and  gainful  pursuits,  and  the  wide  variety 
of  social  interests  which  competed  for  attention, — education, 
reform,  the  debating  society,  the  town-meeting, — all  acted 
to  hold  men  in  other  fields  than  those  of  national  politics. 
The  best  brains  were  invited  by  commerce,  the  factory,  the 
railroad,  the  college,  the  laboratory,  the  newspaper, — as  well 
as  by  the  Capitol.  But  to  the  Southern  planter  and  his 
social  compeer  no  pursuit  compared  in  attraction  with  the 
political  field,  and  above  all  the  public  life  of  the  nation. 


How  They  Differed  209 

The  mass  of  the  people,  especially  in  the  country  districts, 
found  in  the  political  meeting  an  interest  whose  only  rival 
was  the  camp-meeting.  Besides,  when  the  burning  political 
question  was  slavery,  it  came  home  to  the  business  and 
bosoms  of  the  South,  while  to  the  North  it  was  remote. 
And  thus,  when  the  secession  movement  broke  upon  the 
land,  the  Southern  people  grasped  it  with  a  concentration, 
energy,  and  response  to  their  habitual  leaders,  in  strongest 
contrast  to  the  surprise,  hesitation,  and  division,  which  at 
first  characterized  the  North. 

And,  as  the  last  distinction  to  be  here  noted,  one  section 
was  far  more  habituated  than  the  other  to  methods  of 
physical  force  in  private  and  public  affairs.  It  was  an 
instance  of  this  that  the  duel  was  in  common  practice  at 
the  South  up  to  the  Civil  War,  while  at  the  North  it  had 
disappeared  sixty  years  earlier,  after  the  encounter  of  Burr 
and  Hamilton.  At  the  South  the  street  affray  was  common. 
There  is  a  picture  of  Southern  life  which  ought  to  have  a 
wide  reading,  in  Kate  Beaumont,  a  story  of  South  Car 
olina,  written  by  J.  W.  De  Forest,  a  Northerner  and  a  Union 
soldier.  Its  tone  is  sympathetic,  and  neither  the  negro  nor 
the  sectional  question  plays  a  part.  It  portrays  admirable 
and  delightful  people ;  old  Judge  Kershaw  is  indeed  "  the 
white  rose  of  South  Carolina  chivalry,"  and  the  Beaumonts 
and  McAllisters,  with  all  their  foibles,  are  a  strong  and  lov 
able  group.  But  the  pistol  is  the  ready  arbiter  of  every 
quarrel ;  the  duelist's  code  is  so  established  that  it  can  hardly 
be  ignored  even  by  one  who  disapproves  it;  and  the  high- 
toned  gentleman  is  no  whit  too  high  for  the  street  encounter 
with  his  opponent.  Old-time  Southerners  know  how  faith 
ful  is  that  picture.  So,  too,  the  Southern  people  turned 
readily  to  public  war.  They  supplied  the  pioneers  who 
colonized  Texas  and  won  by  arms  its  independence  of 
Mexico.  They  not  only  supported  the  Mexican  war  by 


2io  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

their  votes,  but  many  of  the  flower  of  their  youth  enlisted 
for  it.  From  their  young  men  were  recruited  the  "  fili 
busters  "  who,  from  time  to  time,  tried  to  revolutionize  or 
annex  Cuba  or  some  Central  American  State.  The  soldier 
figured  largely  in  the  Southern  imagination.  But  the  North 
inclined  strongly  to  the  ways  of  peace.  That  is  the  natural 
temper  of  an  industrial  democracy.  It  is  the  note  of  a  civ 
ilization  advanced  beyond  slavery  and  feudalism.  And  of 
the  moral  leaders  of  the  North,  some  of  the  foremost  had 
been  strong  champions  of  peace.  Channing  had  pleaded  for 
it  as  eloquently  as  he  pleaded  for  freedom.  Intemperance, 
slavery,  and  war  had  been  the  trinity  of  evil  assailed  by 
earnest  reformers.  Sumner  had  gone  to  the  length  of  pro 
claiming  the  most  unjust  peace  better  than  the  justest  war, 
— an  extreme  from  which  he  was  destined  to  be  converted. 
Garrison  and  Phillips,  while  their  language  fanned  the  pas 
sions  whose  inevitable  tendency  is  toward  war,  had  in 
theory  declared  all  warfare  to  be  unchristian.  And,  apart 
from  sentiment  or  conviction,  the  industrial  and  peaceful 
habit  was  so  widely  diffused  that  it  was  questionable  how 
much  remained  of  the  militant  temper  which  can  and  will 
fight  on  good  occasion.  The  South  rashly  believed  that 
such  temper  was  extinct  in  the  North,  and  the  North  on  its 
part  doubted  how  far  the  vaunts  of  Southern  courage  had 
any  substance. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

WHY  THEY   FOUGHT 

Now,  when  the  issue  was  about  to  be  joined,  let  it  be  noted 
that  Secession  based  itself,  in  profession_jind  in  reality, 
wholly  on  the  question  of  slavery.  There  lay  the  grievance, 
and  for  that  alone  a  remedy  was  to  be  had  even  at  the  price 
of  sundering  the  Union.  Later,  when  actual  war  broke 
out,  other  considerations  than  slavery  came  into  play.  To 
unite  and  animate  the  South  came  the  doctrine  of  State 
rights,  the  sympathy  of  neighborhood,  and  the  primal 
human  impulse  of  self-defense.  But  the  critical  movement, 
the  action  which  first  sundered  the  Union  and  so  led  to 
war, — was  inspired  wholly  and  solely  by  the  defense  and 
maintenance  of  slavery.  The  proposition  is  almost  too  plain 
for  argument.  But  it  receives  illustration  from  the  great 
debate  in  the  Georgia  Legislature,  when  Toombs  advocated 
Secession  and  Stephens  opposed  it.  Toombs,  evidently  un 
willing  to  rest  the  case  wholly  on  slavery,  alleged  three  other 
grievances  at  the  hands  of  the  North — the  fishery  bounties, 
the  navigation  laws,  and  the  protective  tariff.  Stephens 
easily  brushed  aside  the  bounties  and  navigation  laws  as 
bygone  or  unimportant.  As  to  the  tariff,  he  showed  that 
the  last  tariff  law,  enacted  in  1857,  was  supported  by  every 
Massachusetts  member  of  Congress  and  every  Georgia  mem 
ber,  including  Toombs  himself.  What  further  he  said 
belongs  to  a  later  chapter.  But  he  was  unquestionably  right, 
and  all  rational  history  confirms  it,  that  the  one  force  im 
pelling  the  South  to  Secession  was  the  imperilled  interest  of 
slavery. 

211 


212  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

But  the  resistance  which  Secession  encountered  from  the 
North  was  from  the  outset  other  and  wider  than  hostility 
to  slavery.  Anti-slavery  feeling  was  indeed  strong  in  the 
Northern  heart;  the  restriction  of  slavery  was  the  supreme 
principle  of  the  Republican  party;  the  resentment  that  the 
national  bond  should  be  menaced  in  the  interest  of  slavery 
gave  force  to  the  opposition  which  Secession  instantly 
aroused.  But,  on  the  one  hand,  the  extreme  opponents  of 
slavery,  Garrison  and  his  followers,  were  now, .as  they  had 
always  been,  willing  and  more  than  willing  that  the  South 
should  go  off  and  take  slavery  with  it.  And  on  the  other 
hand,  the  anti-secessionists  of  the  nation  included  a  multi 
tude,  North  and  South,  who  were  either  friendly  to  slavery 
or  indifferent  to  it.  Even  of  the  Republican  party  the  mass 
were  more  concerned  for  the  rights  of  the  white  man  than 
of  the  black  man.  They  were  impatient  of  the  dominance 
of  the  government  by  the  South,  and  meant  to  unseat  the 
Southern  oligarchy  from  the  place  of  power  at  Wash 
ington. 

They  intended  that  the  territories  should  be  kept  for  the 
free  immigrant,  who  should  not  be  degraded  by  slaves  at 
work  in  the  next  field.  Only  a  minority  of  the  party, — 
though  a  minority  likely  in  the  long  run  to  lead  it — looked 
with  hope  and  purpose  to  ultimate  emancipation.  And  when 
the  question  of  Secession  was  at  issue  by  the  people's  votes 
and  voice,  and  had  not  yet  come  to  the  clash  of  arms,  the 
rights  and  interests  of  the  slave  fell  into  the  background. 
The  supreme  question  of  the  time  was  felt  to  be  the  unity 
or  the  division  of  the  nation. 

The  Secessionists'  plea  was  in  two  clauses;  that  their 
States  were  aggrieved  by  Northern  action,  and  that  they 
had  a  legal  right  to  leave  the.  Union  without  let  or  hin 
drance.  A  double  answer  rsret  them-,,  irom  their  fellow- 
Southerners  that  it  was  impolitic  to  sececfc^  and  from  the; 


Why  They  Fought  213 

North  that  secession  was  illegal,  unpermissible,  and  to  be 
resisted  at  all  costs. 

The  Secessionists  were  fluent  in  argument  that  the 
framers  of  the  Constitution  intended  only  a  partnership  of 
States,  dissoluble  by  any  at  will.  However  difficult  to  prove 
that  the  original  builders  purposed  only  such  a  temporary 
edifice,  there  was  at  least  ground  for  maintaining  that  they 
gave  no  authority  for  coercing  a  State  into  obedience  or 
submission,  and  indeed  rejected  a  proposal  to  give  such 
authority.  If  there  were  no  legal  or  rightful  authority 
to  keep  a  State  in  the  Union  by  force,  then  for  all  practical 
purposes  its  right  to  go  out  of  the  Union  was  established. 
But  against  that  right,  as  ever  contemplated  by  the  fathers, 
or  allowable  under  the  Constitution,  there  was  strong  con 
tention  on  legal  and  historic  grounds. 

But  deeper  than  all  forensic  or  academic  controversy  was 
the  substantial  and  tremendous  fact,  that  the  American  peo 
ple  had  grown  into  a  nation,  organic  and  vital.  That  unity 
was  felt  in  millions  of  breasts,  cherished  by  countless  fire 
sides,  recognized  among  the  peoples  of  the  earth. 

There  had  developed  that  mysterious  and  mighty  senti 
ment,  the  love  of  country.  It  rested  in  part  on  the  recog 
nition  of  material  benefits.  From  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf,  the  tides  of  commerce  flowed 
free,  unvexed  by  a  single  custom-house.  The  Mississippi 
with  its  traffic  united  the  Northern  prairies  and  the  Lou 
isiana  delta  like  a  great  artery.  Safety  to  person  and  prop 
erty  under  the  laws,  protection  by  an  authority  strong 
enough  to  curb  riot  or  faction  at  home,  and  with  a  shield 
ing  arm  that  reached  wherever  an  American  traveler  might 
wander, — these  benefits  rooted  patriotism  deep  in  the  soil 
of  homely  usefulness.  And  the  tree  branched  and  blos 
somed  in  the  upper  air  of  generous  feeling.  Man's  sym 
pathy  expands  in  widening  spheres,  and  his  being  enlarges 


214  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

as  he  comes  into  vital  union,  first  with  wife  and  children, 
then  successively  with  neighborhood,  community,  country, 
and  at  last  with  humanity.  The  Russian  peasant,  in  his 
ignorance  and  poverty,  or  facing  the  foe  in  war,  is  subli 
mated  by  his  devotion  to  the  White  Czar  and  Holy  Russia. 
Still  more  inspiring  and  profound  is  the  patriotism  of  a 
citizen  whose  nation  is  founded  on  equal  brotherhood. 
Deeper  than  analysis  can  probe  is  this  passion  of  patriotism. 
Gladstone  characterized  it  well,  when,  writing  in  August, 
1 86 1,  he  recognized  among  the  motives  sustaining  the 
Union  cause,  "  last  and  best  of  all,  the  strong  instinct  of 
national  life,  and  the  abhorrence  of  Nature  itself  toward  all 
severance  of  an  organized  body." 

This  sentiment,  though  strained  and  weakened  in  the 
South,  was  still  powerful  even  in  that  section.  This  was 
especially  true  of  the  border  States,  where  slavery  was  of 
less  account  than  in  the  Gulf  and  Cotton  States.  The  spirit 
of  Clay  was  still  strong  in  Kentucky,  and  was  represented 
by  the  venerable  John  J.  Crittenden  in  the  Senate.  Of  a 
like  temper  was  John  Bell  of  Tennessee,  Presidential  candi 
date  of  the  Union  and  Constitutional  party  in  1860.  From 
the  same  State  Andrew  Johnson,  in  the  Senate,  stood  for 
the  sturdy  and  fierce  Unionism  of  the  white  laboring  class. 
Virginia  was  strongly  bound  to  the  Union  by  her  great  his 
torical  traditions.  North  Carolina,  Missouri,  and  Arkansas 
were,  until  the  war  broke  out,  attached  to  the  Union  rather 
than  the  Southern  cause.  It  was  in  the  belt  of  States  from 
South  Carolina  to  Texas,  in  which  the  planter  class  was 
altogether  dominant,  that  the  interest  of  slavery,  and  the 
pride  of  class  and  of  State,  had  gradually  loosened  the  bonds 
of  affection  and  allegiance  to  the  national  idea.  Calhoun 
himself  had  been  an  ardent  lover  of  the  Union.  The  clash 
between  the  national  and  sectional  interests  had  been  to  him 
a  tragedy.  Nullification  was  his  device  for  perpetuating 


Why  They  Fought  215 

the  Union  while  allowing  its  members  relief  from  possible 
oppression, — but  nullification  had  failed,  in  fact  as  in  logic. 

Now  the  Secessionists  went  further  than  Calhoun  had 
ever  found  occasion  to  go.  They  proposed  to  break  up  the 
nation,  at  first  by  the  withdrawal  of  their  separate  States, 
to  be  followed  by  the  organization  of  a  Southern  Confed 
eracy.  Their  grievance  was  the  restriction  of  their  indus 
trial  system,  and  its  threatened  destruction,  and  the  failure 
of  the  Union  to  serve  its  proper  ends  of  justice  and  frater 
nity.  But  they  wholly  disclaimed  any  revolutionary  action. 
They  maintained  that  the  withdrawal  of  their  States  was  an 
exercise  of  their  strictly  legal  and  constitutional  right.  This 
is  the  plea  which  is  insistently  and  strenuously  urged  by 
their  defenders.  Their  foremost  actors  in  the  drama,  Davis 
and  Stephens,  became  at  a  later  day  its  historians,  not  so 
much  to  record  its  events,  as  to  plead  with  elaboration  and 
reiteration  that  Secession  was  a  constitutional  right.  But 
all  their  fine-spun  reasoning  ran  dead  against  a  force  which 
it  could  no  more  overcome  than  King  Canute's  words  could 
halt  the  tide, — the  fact  of  American  unity,  as  realized  in  the 
hearts  of  the  American  people. 

The  mass  of  men  live  not  by  logic,  but  by  primal  instincts 
and  passions.  Where  one  man  could  explain  why  the  nation 
was  an  indestructible  organism  rather  than  a  partnership 
dissoluble  at  will,  a  thousand  men  could  and  would  fight 
to  prevent  the  nation  from  being  dissolved.  But  here  and 
there  on  this  planet  is  a  man  who  must  think  things  through 
to  the  end,  and  have  a  solid  reason  for  what  he 
does.  Such  a  man  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  never 
could  rest  contented  till  he  had  worked  the  problem 
out  clearly  in  his  own  head,  and  then  had  stated  the  answer 
in  words  that  the  common  man  could  understand.  Such  an 
answer  to  the  whole  Secessionist  argument,  quite  apart  from 
the  slavery  question,  he  gave  in  one  brief  paragraph  of  his 


216  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

inaugural.  "  There  is  no  alternative  for  continuing  the  gov 
ernment  but  acquiescence  on  the  one  side  or  the  other.  If 
the  minority  in  such  a  case  will  secede  rather  than  acquiesce, 
they  make  a  precedent  which  in  turn  will  ruin  and  divide 
them ;  for  a  minority  of  their  own  will  secede  from  them, 
whenever  a  majority  refuses  to  be  controlled  by  such  a 
minority.  For  instance,  why  not  any  portion  of  a  new  Con 
federacy,  a  year  or  so  hence,  arbitrarily  secede  again,  pre 
cisely  as  portions  of  the  present  Union  now  claim  to  secede 
from  it?  All  who  cherish  disunion  sentiments  are  now 
being  educated  to  the  exact  temper  of  doing  this.  Is  there 
such  perfect  identity  of  interests  among  the  States  to  com 
pose  a  new  Union  as  to  produce  harmony  only,  and  prevent 
renewed  Secession?  Plainly,  the  central  idea  of  Secession 
is  the  essence  of  anarchy."  That  was  the  key-word  of  the 
situation,  in  the  court  of  reason  and  conscience, — "  the 
central  idea  of  Secession  is  the  essence  of  anarchy." 

The  system  which  the  Secessionists  proposed  to  break  up 
had  a  part  of  its  highest  value  in  that  very  division  of 
authority  between  State  and  nation  which  gave  them  their 
pretext  for  a  separation.  The  Federal  plan  was  the  special 
contribution  of  America  to  the  evolution  of  popular  self- 
government.  Until  that  step  had  been  taken,  not  only  did 
the  practical  difficulties  of  democracy  increase  enormously 
with  the  increase  of  area  and  population,  but  a  vast  central 
ized  democracy  was  liable  to  be  itself  an  oppressive  despot 
ism,  as  France  has  learned  at  bitter  cost.  The  Federal  plan, 
like  most  other  great  advances,  came  not  as  the  conception 
of  an  ingenious  brain,  but  from  the  growth  of  social  facts. 
The  thirteen  colonies  started  and  grew  as  individual  off 
shoots  from  Great  Britain.  Under  a  common  impulse  they 
broke  loose  from  the  mother-country;  then,  by  a  common 
necessity,  they  bound  themselves  together  in  a  governmental 
Union,  each  member  retaining  jurisdiction  in  such  affairs 


Why  They  Fought  217 

as  were  its  special  concern.  The  resulting  Federal  Union 
was  a  combination  of  strength  and  freedom  such  as  the 
world  had  never  seen.  With  this  for  its  organic  form,  with 
its  spritual  lineage  drawn  from  the  Puritan,  the  Quaker 
and  the  Cavalier,  with  Anglo-Saxon  stock  for  its  core,  yet 
with  open  doors  and  assimilating  power  for  all  races,  and 
with  a  continent  for  its  field  of  expansion, — the  American 
people  became  the  leader  and  the  hope  of  humanity.  This 
was  the  nation  which  the  Secessionists  proposed  to  rend 
asunder. 

All  government  implies  a  principle  of  authority,  and  re 
quires  the  occasional  sacrifice  of  the  individual's  pleasure. 
The  national  bond  has  one  strand  in  mutual  good-will,  but 
another  strand  is  personal  sacrifice,  and  another  is  stern 
command.  The  Union  required  some  sacrifices,  not  only  of 
material  price, — as  when  a  man  pays  just  taxes,  or  acquiesces 
in  a  fiscal  system  which  he  considers  unjust, — but  sacrifices 
sometimes  even  of  moral  sentiment.  Lincoln,  explaining 
his  position  in  1855  to  his  old  friend  Speed,  of  Kentucky, 
repelled  the  suggestion  that  he  had  no  personal  interest  in 
slavery.  He  says  that  whenever  he  crosses  the  border  he 
sees  manacled  slaves  or  some  similar  sight  which  is  a  tor 
ment  to  him.  "  You  ought  to  appreciate  how  much  the  great 
body  of  the  Northern  people  do  crucify  their  feelings  in 
order  to  maintain  their  loyalty  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union." 

That  acquiescence, — a  costly  sacrifice  to  the  higher  good ; 
and  the  typical  attitude  of  the  Republicans  and  the  moderate 
anti-slavery  men, — seemed  to  Garrison  and  Phillips  and 
their  school  a  sinful  compliance  with  evil.  The  extreme 
Abolitionists,  as  much  as  the  extremists  of  the  South,  were 
opposed  to  the  Union.  They  had  no  comprehension  of  the 
interests  and  principles  involved  in  the  preservation  of  the 
national  life.  One  of  the  pleasant  traits  told  of  Garrison's 


2i8  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

private  life  is  this :  He  was  fond  of  music,  especially  relig 
ious  music,  but  had  little  cultivation  in  that  direction ;  and 
he  would  sit  at  the  piano  and  pick  out  the  air  of  the  good 
old  hymn-tunes  with  one  hand,  not  knowing  how  to  play 
the  bass  which  makes  a  harmony.  That  was  typical  of  his 
mental  attitude, — he  knew  and  loved  the  melody  of  freedom, 
but  the  harmony  blended  of  freedom  and  national  unity  he 
did  not  comprehend. 

The  Southern  disunionists  finally  carried  their  section,  but 
the  Abolition  disunionists  never  made  the  slightest  approach 
to  converting  the  North.  It  was  not  merely  that  many  at 
the  North  were  indifferent  to  slavery,  while  to  the  whole 
community  its  interest  was  remote  compared  to  what  it  was 
to  the  South.-  There  was  another  reason  for  the  failure  of 
the  Northern  disunionists.  Among  the  class  to  whom  the 
appeal  for  freedom  came  closest  home,  the  idealists,  the  men 
of  moral  conviction  and  enthusiasm,  were  many  to  whose 
ideality  and  enthusiasm  American  unity  also  spoke  with 
powerful  voice.  Patriotism  was  more  to  them  than  a  mate 
rial  interest,  more  than  an  enlarged  and  glowing  sentiment 
of  neighborhood  and  kinship, — it  was  devotion  to  moral 
interests  of  which  the  national  organism  was  the  symbol  and 
the  agent.  They  saw,  as  Webster  saw,  that  "  America  is  in 
separably  connected,  fast  bound  up,  in  future  and  by  fate, 
with  these  great  interests," — of  free  representative  govern 
ment,  entire  religious  liberty,  improved  systems  of  national 
intercourse,  the  spirit  of  free  inquiry,  and  the  general  dif 
fusion  of  knowledge.  They  looked  still  higher  than  this, — 
they  saw  that  America  rightly  tended  toward  universal  per 
sonal  liberty,  and  full  opportunity  and  encouragement  to 
man  as  man,  of  whatever  race  or  class.  That  was  what 
America  stood  for  to  those  moral  enthusiasts  whose  sanity 
matched  their  ardor.  They  saw  that  this  ideal  was  still 
in  the  future,  and  that  progress  might  be  slow  and  difficult, 


Why  They  Fought  219 

but  they  were  pledged  in  their  souls  to  pursue  it.  And,  with 
that  purpose  at  heart,  they  were  ready  to  maintain  the 
national  unity  at  whatever  cost. 

This  was  the  composite  and  mighty  force  against  which 
the  Secessionists  unwittingly  set  themselves, — the  love  of 
country,  strong  alike  in  the  common  people  and  the  leaders, 
a  love  rooted  in  material  interest  and  flowering  in  generous 
sentiment ;  and  beyond  that  the  moral  ideals  which,  born  in 
prophets  and  men  of  genius,  had  permeated  the  best  part 
of  the  nation.  With  this,  too,  went  the  preponderance  of 
physical  resources  which  free  labor  had  been  steadily  win 
ning  for  the  North.  Judging  even  in  the  interest  of  slavery, 
was  it  not  wise  to  acquiesce  in  the  election,  to  remain  under 
the  safeguards  with  which  the  Constitution  surrounded 
slavery  in  the  States,  to  have  patience,  and  to  make  the  best 
terms  possible  with  the  forces  of  nature  and  society?  So 
urged  the  wisest  counselors,  like  Stephens  of  Georgia.  But 
men  rarely  act  on  a  deliberate  and  rational  calculation  of 
their  interests.  They  are  swayed  by  impulse  and  passion, 
and  especially  by  the  temper  and  habit  which  have  become 
a  second  nature.  The  leaders  in  Secession  acted  in  a  spirit 
generated  by  the  very  nature  of  slavery,  and  fostered  by 
their  long  defense  of  slavery.  That  genesis  of  the  move 
ment  is  all  the  more  impressive  when  we  recognize  the  high 
personal  character  of  its  leaders,  and  acquit  them  of  con 
scious  motives  of  personal  ambition.  Slavery  was  their 
undoing.  The  habit  of  absolute  control  over  slaves  bred  the 
habit  of  mastery  whenever  it  could  be  successfully  asserted. 
There  grew  up  a  caste,  its  members  equal  and  cordial  among 
themselves,  but  self-assertive  and  haughty  to  all  besides. 
They  brooked  no  opposition  at  home,  and  resented  all  criti 
cism  abroad.  They  misread  history  and  present  facts,  mis 
conceived  their  place  in  the  order  of  things,  and  set  them 
selves  against  both  the  finest  and  the  strongest  forces  of  the 


220  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

time.  When  the  political  party  which  had  been  their  most 
effective  tool  became  difficult  to  handle,  they  broke  it  in 
two.  When  they  could  no  longer  rule  the  nation,  they  set 
out  to  sunder  it. 

Thus,  after  forty-five  years,  we  try  to  trace  the  springs 
of  action, — action  which  at  the  time  moved  swiftly,  in 
cloud  and  storm  and  seeming  chaos.  We  have  endeavored 
to  see  a  little  of  how  the  men  of  the  North  and  of  the  South 
thought  and  felt.  Now  let  us  see  what  they  did. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

ON   NIAGARA'S   BRINK— AND  OVER 

THE  election  of  Lincoln  in  November,  1860,  found  South 
Carolina  expectant  and  ready  for  action.  The  Legis 
lature  was  in  session,  and  immediately  ordered  an  election 
to  be  held  December  6  for  a  convention  to  meet  December 
17,  and  pass  on  the  question  of  Secession.  The  action  of  the 
convention  was  in  no  doubt. 

Governor  Pettus  of  Mississippi  summoned  a  group  of 
leading  men  to  consider  the  question  of  immediate  Seces 
sion.  In  the  conclave  the  principal  opponent  of  instant 
action  was  Jefferson  Davis.  His  grounds  were  prudential; 
he  knew  that  the  arsenals,  foundries,  and  military  supplies 
were  chiefly  at  the  North ;  he  foresaw  a  long  and  bloody  war ; 
he  advised  that  further  efforts  be  made  at  compromise,  or  at 
least  that  united  action  of  the  South  be  insured.  This  coun 
sel  prevailed,  and  the  convention  was  deferred  until  mid- 
January. 

In  the  Georgia  Legislature  it  was  proposed  that  the  ques 
tion  of  Secession  be  at  once  submitted  to  a  popular  vote. 
Toombs  and  Stephens  threw  each  his  whole  weight  respect 
ively  for  and  against  Secession.  Stephens  has  preserved  his 
own  speech  in  full.  He  emphasized  the  gravity  of  the  South's 
grievances,  and  the  need  of  redress  from  the  North  if  the 
Union  was  to  permanently  endure.  But  he  denied  that  the 
danger  was  so  pressing  as  to  justify  immediate  Secession. 
He  pointed  out  that  Lincoln  would  be  confronted  by  a  hos- 

221 


222  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

tile  majority  in  the  Senate,  the  House  and  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  could  not  even  appoint  his  Cabinet  officers  ex 
cept  with  the  approval  of  a  Senate  in  which  his  opponents 
outnumbered  his  ..friends.  He  urged_that  it  was  wise  to 
wait  for  some  overt  aggression  on  the  President's  part 
before  seceding.  He  dwelt  on  the  immense  advantages  the 
Union  had  brought  to  all  sections.  He  showed  (as  in  our 
last  chapter)  that  Toombs  could  allege  no  injuries  except 
such  as  affected  slavery.  Georgia's  wealth  had  doubled  be 
tween  1850  and  1860.  "  I  look  upon  this  country,"  he  said, 
"  with  our  institutions,  as  the  Eden  of  the  world,  the  para 
dise  of  the  universe.  It  may  be  that  out  of  it  we  may  be 
come  greater  and  more  prosperous,  but  I  am  candid  and 
sincere  in  telling  you  that  I  fear  if  we  yield  to  passion,  and 
without  sufficient  cause  shall  take  that  step,  that  instead  of 
becoming  greater  or  more  peaceful,  prosperous  and  happy, 
— instead  of  becoming  gods  we  will  become  demons,  and  at 
no  distant  day  commence  cutting  one  another's  throats." 

Stephen's  counsel  was  that  the  State  should  hold  a  con 
vention,  that  with  the  other  Southern  States  it  should  draw 
up  a  formal  bill  of  complaint  as  to  the  personal  liberty  laws 
and  the  like,  and  if  the  North  then  refused  redress,  secede. 
But  whatever  the  State  should  do,  he  would  accept  its  de 
cision,  since  the  only  alternative  was  civil  war  within  the 
State.  He  succeeded  in  having  the  convention  deferred  till 
January,  and  the  other  Gulf  States  took  similar  action,  while 
Virginia  called  a  convention  for  February  13. 

With  the  tide  of  secession  rising  swiftly  in  the  South,  and 
surprise,  consternation,  and  perplexity  at  the  North,  Con 
gress  met  in  early  December.  President  Buchanan,  in  his 
message,  following  the  advice  of  his  attorney-general,  Jere 
miah  S.  Black  of  Pennsylvania, — both  of  them  honest  and 
patriotic  men,  but  legalists  rather  than  statesmen— argued 
that  Secession  was  wholly  against  the  Constitution,  but  its 


On  Niagara's  Brink — and  Over         223 

forcible  repression  was  equally  against  the  Constitution. 
Thus  encouraged,  the  Southern  leaders  confronted  the  Re 
publicans  in  Congress, — how  far  would  they  recede,  how 
much  would  they  yield,  to  avert  Secession?  Naturally,  the 
Republicans  were  not  willing  to  undo  the  victory  they  had 
just  won,  or  to  concede  the  very  principle  for  which  they 
had  fought.  But  in  both  Houses  large  committees  were  ap 
pointed  and  the  whole  situation  was  earnestly  discussed.  On 
all  sides  violence  was  deprecated;  there  was  general  dread 
of  disruption  of  the  Union,  general  doubt  of  the  feasibility 
of  maintaining  it  by  force,  and  the  wide  wish  and  effort  to 
find  some  practicable  compromise. 

But  there  was  no  hesitation  on  South  Carolina's  part.  Her 
convention  passed,  December  20,  an  Ordinance  of  Secession  ; 
a  clear  and  impressive  statement  of  her  complaints  and  the 
remedy  she  adopts.  The  Federal  compact  has  been  broken ; 
the  personal  liberty  laws  violate  the  Constitution ;  the  North 
ern  people  have  denounced  as  sinful  the  institution  of 
slavery;  they  have  elected  a  man  who  has  declared  that 
"  this  government  cannot  permanently  endure  half  slave  and 
half  free  " ;  they  are  about  to  exclude  Southern  institutions 
from  the  territories,  and  to  make  the  Supreme  Court  sec 
tional.  "  All  hope  of  redress  is  rendered  vain  by  the  fact 
that  public  opinion  at  the  North  has  invested  a  great  polit 
ical  error  with  the  sanction  of  a  more  erroneous  religious 
belief."  So,  from  a  partnership  of  which  the  letter  has  been 
broken  and  the  spirit  destroyed,  South  Carolina  with 
draws. 

The  State  was,  at  least  on  the  surface,  almost  unanimous, 
— in  Charleston  only  the  venerable  James  L.Petigru  ventured 
to  call  himself  a  Unionist, — and  was  in  high  heart  and  hope 
for  its  new  venture.  But,  facing  the  palmetto  flags  so  gayly 
unfurled  to  the  breeze,  still  floated  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
over  a  little  garrison  in  Fort  Moultrie,  commanded  by  Major 


224  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

Anderson.  His  supplies  were  low;  should  aid  be  sent  him? 
No,  said  Buchanan  timidly;  and  thereat  Cass  withdrew 
indignantly  from  the  Cabinet,  to  be  replaced  as  Secretary  of 
State  by  Black,  while  the  vigorous  Edwin  M.  Stanton  took 
Black's  former  place;  and  Buchanan's  courage  rose  a  little. 
At  the  request  of  the  South  Carolina  authorities,  Floyd,  the 
Secretary  of  War,  had  ordered  Anderson  to  act  strictly  on 
the  defensive.  Finding  himself  at  the  mercy  of  his  oppo 
nents  on  the  mainland,  he  quietly  withdrew  his  handful  of 
men,  on  the  night  of  December  26,  to  Fort  Sumter,  whose 
position  on  an  island  gave  comparative  security.  The  South 
Carolinians  instantly  occupied  Fort  Moultrie  and  Castle 
Pinckney,  and  took  possession  of  the  custom-house  and  post- 
office.  They  cried  out  against  Anderson's  maneuver  as  a 
breach  of  good  faith,  and  Secretary  Floyd  resigned,  in  sym 
pathy  with  the  Carolinians.  The  President,  heartened  by 
his  new  counselors,  dispatched  the  steamer  Star  of  the  West 
with  supplies  for  Anderson,  but  she  was  fired  on  by  the 
South  Carolinians  and  turned  back,  January  9.  Resenting 
the  President's  act,  Thompson  of  Mississippi  and  Thomas  of 
Maryland  left  his  cabinet.  The  President  brought  in  Gen 
eral  Dix  of  New  York ;  Joseph  Holt,  now  Secretary  of  War, 
was  a  Southern  loyalist,  and  in  its  last  months  Buchanan's 
Cabinet  was  thoroughly  Unionist.  But  in  him  there  was  no 
leadership. 

Leadership  was  not  wanting  to  the  Secessionists.  A 
movement  like  theirs,  once  begun  and  in  a  congenial  atmos 
phere,  advances  like  a  glacier  by  its  own  weight,  but  with 
the  pace  not  of  the  glacier  but  of  the  torrent.  In  the  country 
at  large  and  at  Washington  there  was  confusion  of  counsels. 
There  was  manifest  disposition  among  the  Republicans  to 
go  a  long  way  in  conciliation.  Of  forcible  resistance  to 
Secession  there  was  but  little  talk.  But  that  the  Republicans 
should  disown  and  reverse  the  entire  principles  on  which 


On  Niagara's  Brink — and  Over         225 

their  party  was  founded  was  out  of  the  question.  On  the 
night  of  January  5  there  met  in  a  room  at  the  Capitol  the 
Senators  from  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
Louisiana,  Arkansas,  and  Texas.  They  agreed  on  a  com 
mon  program,  and  telegraphed  to  their  homes  that  Secession 
was  advisable  at  the  January  conventions  and  that  a  com 
mon  convention  was  to  be  held  at  Montgomery,  Ala.,  in 
mid-February,  for  the  organization  of  the  Southern  Confed 
eracy.  Meantime,  all  United  States  officials  were  to  resign, 
and  the  Federal  forts,  arsenals  and  custom-houses  were  to 
be  seized. 

A  last  formal  presentation  of  the  Southern  ultimatum  was 
made  by  Toombs  in  the  Senate.  It  was  the  familiar  de 
mand — slavery  in  the  territories ;  slavery  under  Federal 
protection  everywhere  except  in  the  free  States;  fugitives 
to  be  returned;  offenders  against  State  laws  to  be  surren 
dered  to  justice  in  those  States ;  inter-State  invasion  and  in 
surrection  to  be  prohibited  and  punished  by  Congress.  No 
partial  concessions  would  answer :  this,  or  nothing !  "  Noth 
ing  be  it  then ! "  was  the  answer  of  the  Republicans :  and 
Toombs,  Davis,  and  their  associates  bade  a  stern  and  sad 
farewell  to  their  fellow-congressmen  and  went  home  to 
organize  the  Confederacy.  Congress  took  up  fresh  plans 
for  reconciliation  and  reunion. 

Mississippi,  through  its  convention,  seceded  January  9, 
1 86 1.  Florida  followed,  January  10,  and  Alabama,  January 
ii.  Then,  in  the  great  "  keystone  State  "  of  Georgia,  came 
deliberation  and  momentous  debate.  Against  immediate 
Secession,  the  policy  of  patience,  of  conference  with  the  other 
Southern  States  including  the  new  "  independent  republics," 
and  a  united  remonstrance  to  the  North,  of  which  the  re 
jection  would  justify  Secession, — this  policy  was  embodied 
in  a  resolution  presented  by  Herschel  V.  Johnson  and  sup 
ported  by  all  the  eloquence  and  persuasiveness  of  Stephens. 


226  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

Against  him  was  the  strong  personal  influence  of  Howell 
Cobb,  and  the  argument — which  Stephens  says  was  decisive, 
— "  we  can  make  better  terms  out  of  the  Union  than  in  it." 
The  test  vote  was  164  to  133  for  immediate  Secession.  On 
the  motion  of  Stephens  the  action  was  made  unanimous. 
This  accession  of  Georgia  marked  the  triumph  of  the  Seces 
sionists'  cause ;  and  most  fitly,  in  a  speech  on  the  evening  of 
the  same  day,  Stephens  declared  the  fundamental  idea  of 
that  cause.  Jefferson,  he  said,  and  the  leading  statesmen  of 
his  day,  "  believed  slavery  wrong  in  principle,  socially, 
morally,  and  politically  .  .  .  Those  ideas,  however, 
were  fundamentally  wrong.  They  rested  upon  the  assump 
tion  of  the  equality  of  races.  This  was  an  error.  It  was  a 
sandy  foundation,  and  the  government  built  upon  it  fell 
when  the  storm  came  and  the  wind  blew.  Our  new  govern 
ment  is  founded  upon  exactly  the  opposite  ideas ;  its  founda 
tions  are  laid,  its  corner-stone  rests  upon  the  great  truth 
that  the  negro  is  not  equal  to  the  white  man ;  that  slavery — 
subordination  to  the  white  race — is  his  natural  and  normal 
condition.  This,  our  new  government,  is  the  first  in  the 
history  of  the  world  based  upon  this  great  physical,  philo 
sophical,  and  moral  truth." 

The  Louisiana  convention  voted  to  secede  January  26, 
and  Texas  February  i.  The  seven  seceded  States  sent  dele 
gates  to  a  convention  which  met  at  Montgomery,  February 
4.  They  quickly  organized  the  Confederate  States  of 
America,  with  a  Constitution  closely  resembling  that  of  the 
United  States.  One  article  forbade  the  foreign  slave  trade, 
except  that  with  "the  United  States  of  America,"  which 
was  left  subject  to  Congress.  Davis  was  elected  President, 
by  general  agreement.  He  was  clearly  marked  for  the  place 
by  ability,  by  civil  and  military  experience,  by  unblemished 
character,  and  by  his  record  as  a  firm  but  not  extreme  cham 
pion  of  the  Secessionist  cause.  He  disclaimed  any  desire  for 


On  Niagara's  Brink — and  Over         227 

the  office,  preferring  the  position  which  Mississippi  had 
given  him  as  commander  of  her  forces,  but  when  the  sum 
mons  came  to  him  at  his  plantation  home  he  promptly  ac 
cepted.  Stephens  was  chosen  Vice-President,  in  spite  of  his 
late  and  half-hearted  adherence,  to  conciliate  Georgia  and 
the  old  Whigs.  In  the  Cabinet  the  leading  figures  were 
Toombs  of  Georgia  and  Benjamin  of  Louisiana. 

With  this  purposeful,  swift,  and  effective  action,  Seces 
sion  seemed  to  have  reached  its  limit.  The  other  Southern 
States  held  back.  Among  the  plain  folk,  not  over-heated 
about  politics,  there  was  wide  disinclination  to  any  such  ex 
treme  measure  as  disunion.  It  was  well  represented  by 
Robert  E.  Lee,  in  whom  the  best  blood  and  worthiest  tradi 
tion  of  Virginia  found  fit  exemplar.  He  wrote  to  his  son, 
January  23 :  "  Secession  is  nothing  but  revolution.  The 
framers  of  our  Constitution  never  expended  so  much  labor, 
wisdom  and  forbearance,  in  its  formation,  and  surrounded  it 
with  so  many  guards  and  securities,  if  it  was  intended 
to  be  broken  by  every  member  of  the  Confederacy  at 
will." 

North  Carolina  voted  against  a  convention  by  1,000 
majority.  Tennessee  voted  against  it  by  92,000  to  25,000. 
Arkansas  postponed  action  till  August.  Missouri  held  a 
convention  which  voted  not  to  secede.  In  Maryland  the 
governor  would  not  convene  the  Legislature,  and  an  irreg 
ular  convention  took  no  decisive  action.  Delaware  did  noth 
ing.  Virginia  held  a  convention,  which  was  not  ready  for 
Secession,  but  remained  in  session  watching  the  course  of 
events.  The  Kentucky  Legislature  refused  to  call  a  con 
vention,  but  pledged  assistance  to  the  South  in  case  of 
invasion. 

This  last  declaration  illustrated  the  second  line  of  de 
fense,  behind  the  Secessionist  advance.  The  sentiment  was 
general  throughout  the  South,  even  among  Unionists,  that 


228  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

there  must  be  no  armed  repression  of  Secession.  It  rested 
partly  on  the  theory  of  State  Sovereignty,  and  partly  on  the 
sympathy  of  neighborhood  and  of  common  institutions. 
Even  at  the  North  there  was  wide  disinclination  to  the  use 
of  force  against  the  Secessionists.  The  venerable  General 
Scott,  chief  of  the  Federal  Army,  gave  it  as  his  personal 
opinion  that  the  wise  course  was  to  say,  "  Wayward  sisters, 
depart  in  peace."  The  New  York  Tribune,  foremost  of 
Republican  newspapers,  declared :  "  If  the  cotton  States 
wish  to  withdraw  from  the  Union,  they  should  be  allowed 
to  do  so."  "  Any  attempt  to  compel  them  to  remain  by 
force  would  be  contrary  to  the  principles  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  to  the  fundamental  ideas  upon  which 
human  liberty  is  based."  And  again :  "  We  hope  never  to 
live  in  a  Republic  whereof  one  section  is  pinned  to  the  resi 
due  by  bayonets."  Such  expressions  were  not  uncommon 
among  Republicans,  and  very  frequent  among  Democrats. 
Garrison  and  Phillips  were  loud  in  welcoming  a  separa 
tion.  But  there  were  leaders  like  Wade  of  Ohio  and  Chand 
ler  of  Michigan,  whose  temper  was  very  different,  and 
ominous  that  the  West  would  never  consent  to  a  disruption 
of  the  nation. 

The  governor  of  Virginia  invited  all  the  States  to  send 
delegates  to  a  Peace  congress  to  find  means  to  save  the 
Union.  Almost  all  sent  delegates,  and  the  congress  held 
long  sessions,  while  the  Senate  and  House  were  essaying 
the  same  task.  Little  result  came  in  either  body,  because 
neither  party  would  accept  the  other's  concessions.  The 
favorite  measure  was  that  known  as  the  Crittendon  com 
promise,  framed  by  the  Kentucky  senator,  of  which  the 
central  feature  was  the  extension  of  the  old  Missouri  com 
promise  line  of  36  degrees  30  minutes  to  the  Pacific,  with 
express  provision  that  all  territory  north  of  this  should  be 
free  and  all  south  should  be  slave.  To  this  the  Republicans 


On  Niagara's  Brink — and  Over          229 

would  not  consent,  but  they  went  far  toward  it  by  agreeing 
to  a  plan  proposed  by  Charles  Francis  Adams  of  Massa 
chusetts, — that  New  Mexico  (including  all  present  territory 
south  of  36  degrees  30  minutes  except  the  Indian  territory), 
be  admitted  as  a  State  with  slavery  if  its  people  should  so 
vote.  They  offered  also  to  admit  Colorado,  Nevada,  and 
Dakota  as  territories,  with  no  express  exclusion  of  slavery. 
But  neither  side  would  leave  to  the  other  the  possible 
future  extension  to  the  South — in  Mexico  and  Cuba. 
Further,  the  Republicans  showed  a  willingness  to  amend  the 
Personal  Liberty  laws,  so  far  as  they  might  be  unconstitu 
tional,  and  to  provide  for  governmental  payment  for  fugi 
tives  who  were  not  returned.  They  expressed  entire  readi 
ness  to  unite  in  a  national  convention  for  the  revision  of  the 
Constitution.  And  finally  there  was  not  only  proposed, 
but  actually  passed  by  the  Senate  and  House,  by  two-thirds 
majorities,  at  the  very  end  of  the  session,  a  constitutional 
amendment  prohibiting  any  future  amendment  that  should 
authorize  Congress  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  States 
where  it  existed. 

In  vain,  all, — in  vain  for  the  Republicans  to  hold  out  the 
olive  branch,  to  mutilate  their  own  principles,  and  to  bar  the 
door  against  any  ultimate  constitutional  abolition  of  slavery. 
Even  the  slave  States  still  in  the  Union  were  not  to  be  satis 
fied  by  all  this,  and  the  Confederacy  gave  it  no  heed.  And 
now,  in  the  background,  was  visible  a  rising  force,  in  which 
the  temper  was  far  other  than  compromise.  The  most  sig 
nificant  voice  came  from  Massachusetts.  After  all  the  old 
antagonism  of  Massachusetts  and  South  Carolina, — after 
the  clash  of  Calhoun  and  Hayne  with  Webster,  the  expul 
sion  of  Samuel  Hoar,  the  assault  of  Brooks  on  Sumner, — 
the  two  commonwealths  stood  forth,  each  the  leader  of  its 
own  section.  It  was  a  hostility  which  sprung  from  no  acci 
dent,  and  no  remembrance  of  old  feuds,  but  from  the  oppo- 


230  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

sition  of  two  types  of  society,  the  oligarchic  idea  most  fully 
developed  in  South  Carolina,  the  industrial  democracy  in 
Massachusetts.  The  new  Governor  of  the  State  was  John 
A.  Andrew,  a  man  of  clear  convictions,  a  great  heart,  and 
a  magnanimous  temper.  His  New  Year's  message  to  the 
Legislature  opened  with  a  businesslike  discussion  of  the 
State's  finances  and  other  materialities.  Thence  he  passed 
to  national  affairs;  he  defended  the  Personal  Liberty  law, 
of  which  his  more  conservative  predecessor,  Governor 
Banks,  had  advised  the  repeal,  but  which  Andrew  justified 
as  a  legitimate  defense  against  kidnapping ;  while  suggesting 
that  whatever  slaves  South  Carolina  had  lost  from  this 
cause  were  offset  by  Massachusetts  black  seamen  enslaved 
in  her  ports.  Then  he  took  up  the  matter  of  disunion. 
"  The  question  now  is,  Shall  a  reactionary  spirit,  unfriendly 
to  liberty,  be  permitted  to  subvert  democratic  republican 
government  organized  under  constitutional  forms?  .  .  . 
The  men  who  own  and  till  the  soil,  who  drive  the  mills, 
and  hammer  out  their  own  iron  and  leather  on  their  own 
anvils  and  lapstones  .  .  .  are  honest,  intelligent,  pa 
triotic,  independent,  and  brave.  They  know  that  simple 
defeat  in  an  election  is  no  cause  for  the  disruption  of  a 
government.  They  know  that  those  who  declare  that  they 
will  not  live  peaceably  within  the  Union  do  not  mean  to  live 
peaceably  out  of  it.  They  know  that  the  people  of  all  sec 
tions  have  a  right,  which  they  intend  to  maintain,  of  free 
access  from  the  interior  to  both  oceans,  and  from  Canada 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  of  the  free  use  of  all  the  lakes 
and  rivers  and  highways  of  commerce,  North,  South,  East 
and  West.  They  know  that  the  Union  means  peace  and 
unfettered  commercial  intercourse  from  sea  to  sea  and 
from  shore  to  shore ;  that  it  secures  us  against  the  unfriendly 
presence  or  possible  dictation  of  any  foreign  power,  and 
commands  respect  for  our  flag  and  security  for  our  trade, 


On  Niagara's  Brink — and  Over          231 

And  they  do  not  intend,  nor  will  they  ever  consent,  to  be 
excluded  from  these  rights  which  they  have  so  long  en 
joyed,  nor  to  abandon  the  prospect  of  the  benefits  which 
humanity  claims  for  itself  by  means  of  their  continued 
enjoyment  in  the  future.  Neither  will  they  consent  that 
the  continent  shall  be  overrun  by  the  victims  of  a  remorse 
less  cupidity,  and  the  elements  of  danger  increased  by  the 
barbarizing  influences  which  accompany  the  African  slave 
trade.  Inspired  by  the  ideas  and  emotions  which  com 
manded  the  fraternization  of  Jackson  and  Webster  on 
another  great  occasion  of  public  danger,  the  people  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  confiding  in  the  patriotism  of  their  brethren  in 
other  States,  accept  this  issue,  and  respond  in  the  words  of 
Jackson,  '  The  Federal  Union,  it  must  be  preserved.'  .  .  . 
We  cannot  turn  aside,  and  we  will  not  turn  back." 

The  crowded,  anxious,  hurrying  months,  brought  the  4th 
of  March,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  was  inaugurated  as  Pres 
ident.  His  speeches  on  his  way  to  the  capital, — pacific, 
reassuring,  but  firm  for  national  unity  and  liberty, — had  in 
a  degree  brought  him  into  touch  with  the  mass  of  the  peo 
ple.  But  when  his  gaunt  and  homely  form  rose  to  deliver 
the  inaugural  address,  it  was  as  a  little-known  and  untried 
man  that  he  was  heard.  That  speech  gave  signal  that  the 
man  for  the  hour  had  come.  No  words  could  better  describe 
its  quality  than  "  sweet  reasonableness  "  ; — that,  and  un 
flinching  purpose.  He  began  by  earnest  reassurances  as  to 
the  fidelity  to  the  Constitution  of  himself  and  the  party  be 
hind  him.  He  suggested  the  means  and  temper  by  which 
mutual  grievances  might  be  approached.  Then  in  his  clear, 
logical  fashion,  and  in  the  plain  speech  of  the  common  man, 
he  showed  that  the  Union  is  in  its  nature  indissoluble,  older 
than  the  Constitution,  unaffected  by  any  attempted  Seces 
sion.  His  own  official,  inevitable  duty  is  to  maintain  the 
Union.  But  there  need  be  no  bloodshed  or  violence.  "  The 


232  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

power  confided  to  me  will  be  used  to  hold,  occupy,  and  pos 
sess  the  property  and  places  belonging  to  the  government, 
and  collect  the  duties  and  imports ;  but  beyond  what  may 
be  necessary  for  these  objects  there  will  be  no  invasion,  no 
using  of  force  against  or  among  the  people  anywhere."  If 
resident  citizens  will  not  hold  Federal  offices,  there  is  to  be 
no  intrusion  of  obnoxious  strangers.  The  mails  will  be 
furnished  wherever  they  are  wanted.  "  So  far  as  possible 
the  people  everywhere  shall  have  that  sense  of  perfect  se 
curity  which  is  most  favorable  to  calm  thought  and  re 
flection."  This  will  be  his  course  unless  events  shall  com 
pel  a  change.  And  then  follows  a  most  calm,  rational, 
moving  plea  against  sacrificing  a  great,  popular,  orderly 
self-government,  to  individual  caprice  or  fancied  wrongs ;  a 
demonstration,  irresistible  as  mathematics,  that  "  the  cen 
tral  idea  of  Secession  is  anarchy."  "  Unanimity  is  impos 
sible,  the  rule  of  a  minority,  as  a  permanent  arrangement,  is 
wholly  inadmissible;  so  that,  rejecting  the  majority  prin 
ciple,  anarchy  or  despotism  in  some  form  is  all  that  is  left." 
In  the  address  there  is  not  one  word  of  heat  or  bitterness; 
it  is  all  in  the  spirit  of  his  words  spoken  in  private,  "  I  shall 
do  nothing  maliciously, — the  interests  I  deal  with  are  too 
vast  for  malicious  dealings." 

He  does  not  belittle  the  complaints  of  the  South,  but 
pleads  for  mutual  forbearance.  If  there  are  defects  in  the 
organic  framework  of  the  nation,  let  them  be  discussed  and 
amended  if  necessary  in  a  constitutional  convention.  No 
justice  can  be  done  to  this  inaugural  in  a  condensation;  it 
should  be  studied  line  by  line ;  it  is  one  of  the  great  classics 
of  American  literature  and  history.  Thus  he  ended :  "  I 
am  loth  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We 
must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained, 
it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic 
chords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battlefield  and 


On  Niagara's  Brink — and  Over          233 

patriot's  grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearthstone  all 
over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union 
when  again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better 
angels  of  our  nature." 

Through  the  weeks  that  followed,  Lincoln  was  plunged  in 
a  sea  of  perplexities,  while  the  nation  seemed  weltering  in 
chaos,  with  nothing  clear  but  the  steady  purpose  of  the  Con 
federate  leaders  to  maintain  their  position  and  achieve  com 
plete  independence  by  the  shortest  road.  Lincoln  had  formed 
a  Cabinet  including  some  very  able  and  some  ordinary  men, 
with  one — Seward — of  highest  promise  and  at  first  of  most 
disappointing  performance.  He  regarded  himself  as  the 
real  power  in  the  administration;  he  underrated  alike  the 
gravity  of  the  situation  and  the  President's  ability  to  cope 
with  it;  he  trusted  to  conciliation  and  smooth  assurance; 
and  he  tried  to  take  the  reins  of  control  into  his  own  hands 
— an  attempt  which  Lincoln  quietly  foiled.  The  President 
and  his  Cabinet  were  as  yet  strangers  to  each  other.  In  the 
Senate  (the  House  was  not  in  session),  Douglas  assailed 
the  President's  position,  and  declared  three  courses  to  be 
open:  Constitutional  redress  of  the  South's  grievances; 
the  acceptance  of  Secession ;  or  its  forcible  repression, — the 
first  the  best,  the  last  the  worst.  Three  commissioners  of 
the  Confederacy  were  in  Washington,  refused  official  recog 
nition,  but  holding  some  indirect  intercourse  with  Seward, 
which  they  apparently  misunderstood  and  exaggerated.  A 
swarm  of  office-seekers,  like  Egyptian  locusts,  beset  the 
President  amid  his  heavy  cares.  The  border  States,  trem 
bling  in  the  balance,  called  for  the  wisest  handling. 
Heaviest  and  most  pressing  was  the  problem  what  to  do 
with  Fort  Sumter.  Closely  beleaguered,  with  failing  sup 
plies,  it  must  soon  fall  unless  relieved.  Almost  impossible 
to  relieve  or  save  it,  said  the  army  officers;  easy  to  slip  in 
supplies,  contradicted  the  naval  officers.  Leave  Sumter  to 


234  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

fall  and  you  dishearten  the  North,  urged  Chase  and  Blair 
in  the  Cabinet ;  answered  Seward,  Reinforce  it,  and  you  pro 
voke  instant  war. 

Lincoln  answered  the  question  in  his  own  way.  He  was 
true  to  the  principle  he  had  laid  down  in  his  inaugural, — to 
maintain  the  essential  rights  of  the  national  government, 
but  with  the  least  possible  exercise  of  force.  He  would 
"  hold,  occupy,  and  possess  the  property  and  places  belong 
ing  to  the  government,  and  collect  the  duties  and  imports  " 
— that  and  nothing  more.  Practically  the  only  "  property 
and  places  "  now  left  to  the  government  at  the  South  were 
Forts  Sumter  and  Pickens.  To  yield  them  without  effort 
was  to  renounce  the  minimum  of  self-assertion  he  had  re 
served  to  the  nation. 

As  to  the  means  of  supply,  he  had  recourse  to  the  best 
instrument  that  offered, — a  scheme  proposed  by  Captain 
Fox,  an  energetic  naval  officer,  who  planned  a  relief  expedi 
tion  of  five  vessels  to  be  privately  dispatched  from  New 
York  and  try  to  run  past  the  batteries.  The  expedition 
was  quickly  fitted  out  and  sent,  in  early  April.  According 
to  promise,  in  case  of  any  such  action,  notice  was  tele 
graphed  to  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina.  He  communi 
cated  with  the  Confederate  government  at  Montgomery. 
That  government  was  bent  on  maintaining,  without  further 
debate,  its  full  sovereignty  over  the  coasts  and  waters 
within  its  jurisdiction.  There  is  no  need  to  impute  a  de 
liberate  purpose  to  rouse  and  unite  the  South  by  bloodshed, 
any  more  than  there  is  reason  to  impute  to  Lincoln  a  crafty 
purpose  to  inveigle  the  South  into  striking  the  first  blow. 
Each  acted  straight  in  the  line  of  their  open  and  avowed 
purpose, — Lincoln,  to  retain  the  remaining  vestige  of 
national  authority  at  the  South;  the  Confederacy,  to  make 
full  and  prompt  assertion  of  its  entire  independence. 

Orders  were  telegraphed  from  Montgomery,  and  General 


On  Niagara's  Brink — and  Over          235 

Beauregard,  commanding  the  Charleston  forces,  sent  to 
Major  Anderson  a  summons  to  surrender.  It  was  rejected ; 
and  the  circle  of  forts  opened  fire  and  Sumter  fired  back. 
The  roar  of  those  guns  flashed  by  telegraph  over  the  coun 
try.  In  every  town  and  hamlet  men  watched  and  waited 
with  a  tension  which  cannot  be  described.  All  the  accumu 
lated  feeling  of  months  and  years  flashed  into  a  lightning 
stroke  of  emotion.  All  day  Friday  and  Saturday,  April  12, 
13,  men  watched  the  bulletins,  and  talked  in  brief  phrases, 
and  were  conscious  of  a  passion  surging  through  millions 
of  hearts.  Saturday  evening  came  the  word, — the  fort  had 
yielded.  After  a  thirty-four  hours*  fight,  overmatched,  the 
expected  relief  storm-delayed,  his  ammunition  spent,  his 
works  on  fire,  Anderson  had  capitulated. 

There  was  a  Sunday  of  intense  brooding  all  over  the 
land.  Next  morning,  April  15,  came  a  proclamation  from 
the  President.  The  laws  of  the  United  States,  it  declared, 
were  opposed  and  their  execution  obstructed  in  seven  States, 
by  combinations  too  powerful  to  be  suppressed  by  the  ordi 
nary  course  of  judicial  proceedings ;  and  the  militia  of  the 
States,  to  the  number  of  75,000  were  called  to  arms  for 
three  months  to  suppress  the  combinations  and  cause  the 
laws  to  be  duly  executed. 

The  North  rose  as  one  man  to  the  call.  Party  divisions 
were  forgotten.  Douglas  went  to  the  President  and 
pledged  his  support.  Regiments  from  Pennsylvania  and 
Massachusetts  hurried  to  the  capital.  Every  Northern  State 
hastened  to  fill  its  assigned  quota  of  militia.  No 
less  promptly  the  South  rallied  to  defend  the  seceding  States 
from  invasion.  The  Virginia  convention  voted  Secession 
two  days  after  the  President's  proclamation,  and  the  peo 
ple's  vote  ratified  it  by  six  to  one.  North  Carolina,  Ten 
nessee,  and  Arkansas  joined  the  Confederacy.  Maryland, 
Kentucky,  and  Missouri,  wavered  and  were  distracted,  but 


236  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

as  State  organizations  remained  in  the  Union,  while  their 
populations  divided. 

Constitutional  logic,  argumentation,  distinctions  between 
holding  the  national  property  and  invasion,  all  vanished  in 
the  fierce  breath  of  war.  Between  union  and  disunion, 
argument  was  exhausted,  and  the  issue  was  to  be  tried  out 
by  force.  In  a  day  a  great  peaceful  people  resolved  itself 
into  two  hostile  armies. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE    CIVIL    WAR 

AT  the  outbreak  of  war,  what  the  Northerner  saw  con 
fronting  him  was  an  organized  attempt  to  overthrow  the 
government  and  break  up  the  nation  in  the  interest  of 
slavery.  This  as  the  essential  fact  took  form  in  the  circle 
of  fire  let  loose  on  a  beleaguered  fort,  and  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  lowered  before  an  overwhelming  force.  Close  fol 
lowing  came  the  menace  against  the  national  capital,  for 
Washington  was  believed  to  be  in  imminent  peril.  A  Mas 
sachusetts  regiment  marching  to  its  relief  was  assailed  by 
the  populace  of  Baltimore;  communication  was  cut;  and 
the  city  which  was  the  centre  and  symbol  of  the  national 
life  seemed  stretching  her  hands  in  appeal  to  the  country's 
faithful  sons.  To  the  conscience,  the  heart,  the  imagina 
tion  of  the  North,  it  was  a  war  of  national  self-defense, — 
a  holy  war. 

What  the  Southerner  saw  was  an  attempt  to  crush  by 
force  a  legitimate  exercise  of  the  right  of  sovereign  States  to 
an  independent  existence.  The  typical  Southerner,  whether  he 
had  thought  Secession  expedient  or  not,  believed  that  each 
State  was  the  rightful  judge  of  its  own  course,  that  the  citi 
zen's  first  allegiance  was  due  to  his  State;  and  that  the  at 
tempt  at  coercion  was  as  tyrannical  as  the  refusal  by  Great 
Britain  of  independence  to  the  American  colonies.  And,  apart 
from  all  political  theories,  there  instantly  loomed  on  the  hori 
zon  the  armies  of  the  North,  bearing  down  with  fire  and 
sword  on  the  people  of  the  Southern  States.  The  instinct  of 
self-defense,  and  the  irresistible  sympathy  of  neighborhood 

237 


238  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

and  community,  prompted  to  resistance.  Beyond  doubt,  the 
typical  Southern  volunteer  could  say  in  all  sincerity,  as  one 
of  them  has  expressed  it :  "  With  me  is  right,  before  me  is 
duty,  behind  me  is  home." 

So  natural  and  profound  was  the  motive  on  each  side, 
when  the  war  began.  Wholly  different  from  the  moral  re 
sponsibility  of  those  who  initiated  Secession,  is  the  case  of 
those  who  afterward  fought  for  what  to  each  side  was  the 
cause  of  home  and  country.  But,  driven  though  both  par 
ties  felt  themselves  to  war,  none  the  less  terrible  was  the 
war  in  itself.  There  are  difficulties  from  which  the  only 
escape  is  through  disaster.  John  Morley  writes :  "  It  is 
one  of  the  commonest  of  all  cheap  mis  judgments  in  human 
affairs,  to  start  by  assuming  that  there  is  always  some  good 
way  out  of  a  bad  case.  Alas  for  us  all,  this  is  not  so.  Situa 
tions  arise,  alike  for  individuals,  for  parties,  and  for  States, 
from  which  no  good  way  out  exists,  but  only  choice  between 
bad  way  out  and  worse."  For  the  American  people,  in  the 
situation  into  which  by  sins  of  commission  and  omission 
they  had  been  brought,  the  only  way  out  was  one  of  the 
worst  ways  that  human  feet  can  travel. 

It  does  not  belong  to  this  work  to  give  a  history  of  the 
Civil  War.  But  a  truthful  history  might  be  written  in  a 
very  different  vein  from  the  accepted  and  popular  narra 
tives.  These  for  the  most  part  describe  the  conflict  in  terms 
resembling  partly  a  game  of  chess  and  partly  a  football 
match.  We  read  of  grand  strategic  combinations,  of  mas 
terly  plans  of  attack  and  admirable  counter-strokes  of  de 
fense.  On  the  battlefield  we  hear  of  gallant  charges,  superb 
rushes  of  cavalry,  indomitable  resistance.  Our  military  his 
torians  largely  give  us  the  impression  of  man  in  battle  as 
in  the  exercise  of  his  highest  powers,  and  war  as  something 
glorious  in  the  experience  and  heart-thrilling  in  the  con 
templation. 


The  Civil  War 

But  a  succinct  account  of  the  whole  business  would  be 
to  say  that  for  four  years  the  flower  of  the  country's  popu 
lation  were  engaged  in  killing  each  other.  All  other  indus 
tries  were  overshadowed  by  the  occupation  of  human 
slaughter.  Shop  and  farm,  church  and  college,  school  and 
home,  all  were  subsidiary  to  the  battlefield. 

The  battlefield  itself  is  not  easily  conceived  by  the  civil 
ian,  even  with  the  aid  of  poets  and  story-tellers  from  Homer 
to  Kipling.  The  reader,  who  has  perhaps  never  seen  a  shot 
fired  in  anger,  may  have  chanced  to  witness  a  man  struck 
down  in  the  street  by  a  falling  beam  or  trampled  by  a  run 
away  horse.  Or,  as  a  better  illustration,  he  may  remember 
in  his  own  case  some  hour  of  sudden  and  extreme  suffer 
ing, — a  hand  caught  by  a  falling  window,  a  foot  drenched 
by  scalding  water.  Intensify  that  experience,  extend  it 
through  days,  for  the  home  couch  and  the  nursing  of  mother 
or  wife  put  the  bare  ground  and  the  onrush  of  hostile  men, 
— and  you  have  the  nucleus,  the  constituent  atom,  of  a  bat 
tle.  Multiply  it  by  hundreds  or  thousands  ;  give  to  each  suf 
ferer  the  background  of  waiting  parents,  wife,  children,  at 
home;  give  to  a  part  death,  swift  or  agonizing;  to  another 
part  lifelong  infirmity  or  irritation, — and  you  begin  to  get 
the  reality  of  war. 

It  was  Wellington  who  said  that  the  worst  sight  on  earth, 
next  to  the  field  of  defeat,  was  the  field  of  victory.  It  was 
Lee  who  wrote  from  Mexico  to  his  son :  "  You  have  no 
idea  what  a  horrible  sight  a  battle-field  is."  And  he  said 
that  the  strongest  memory  left  from  his  first  battle  was  the 
plaintive  tone  of  a  little  Mexican  girl  whom  he  found  lean 
ing  over  a  wounded  drummer-boy. 

Men  not  only  witness  such  carnage  but  inflict  it,  in  the 
excitement  of  battle,  because  animated  by  feelings  of  which 
only  a  part  can  rightly  be  called  heroic.  Honor  indeed  is 
due  to  the  subordination  of  personal  fear  to  the  sense  of 


240  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

duty  and  comradeship, — yes,  high  honor;  and  the  appeal 
of  the  soldier  to  the  imagination,  as  a  type  of  self-sacrifice 
and  nobility,  has  its  element  of  truth.  But  the  ordinary 
courage  of  the  battle-field  is  largely  an  excitement  half- 
animal,  half-contagious,  running  often  into  savagery  and 
insensate  fury.  In  that  situation  the  highest  and  lowest  ele 
ments  in  man  come  into  play.  For  the  most  part  only  the 
highest  is  portrayed  for  us  by  the  historians  and  romancers, 
— they  keep  the  wild  beast  and  the  devil  out  of  sight.  Only 
in  these  later  days,  when  mankind  begins  to  scrutinize 
its  boasted  glories  more  closely,  do  Tolstoi  in  literature 
and  Verestchagin  in  art  give  us  glimpses  of  the  grim 
reality. 

An  industry  which  has  murder  for  its  main  output  will 
have  some  by-products  to  match.  In  the  armies  of  both 
sides  the  human  stuff  was  of  mixed  character  and  motive. 
Some  enlisted  from  pure  patriotism, — for  Union,  State,  or 
Confederacy;  some  from  thirst  of  adventure;  others  for 
ambition ;  others  for  the  bounty  or  under  compulsion  of  the 
conscription  officer ;  many  from  the  mere  contagious  excite 
ment.  Army  life  always  brings  to  many  of  its  participants 
a  great  demoralization.  Take  away  the  restriction  of  public 
opinion  in  a  well-ordered  community,  take  from  men  the 
society  of  good  women,  and  there  will  be  a  tendency  to  bar 
barism.  A  civilized  army  has  indeed  a  code  and  public 
opinion  of  its  own,  which  counts  for  some  sterling  qualities, 
but  it  is  lax  and  ineffective  for  much  that  goes  to  complete 
manhood.  Just  as  the  war  left  a  host  of  maimed  and  crip 
pled,  so  it  left  a  multitude  of  moral  cripples.  At  the  re 
union,  around  the  "  camp  fire,"  with  the  reminiscences  of 
stirring  times  and  the  renewal  of  good  comradeship  runs  a 
vein  of  comment  which  the  newspapers  do  not  relate. 
"What's  become  of  A.?"  "Drank  himself  to  death." 
"  And  where  is  X.  ?  "  "  Never  got  back  the  character  he 


The  Civil  War  241 

lost  in  New  Orleans, — went  to  the  dogs."  It  is  a  chronicle 
not  recorded  on  the  monuments,  but  remembered  in  many 
a  blighted  household.  The  financial  debt  the  war  left  be 
hind  it  was  not  the  heaviest  part  of  the  after-cost. 

Nor  must  there  be  forgotten  the  temper  which  war 
begets,  of  mutual  hate  between  whole  peoples.  Forty  years 
later  we  bring  ourselves, — some  of  us,  and  in  a  measure, — 
to  see  that  our  opponents  of  either  side  had  some  justifica 
tion  or  some  excuse ;  that  they  perhaps  were  honest  as  we. 
But  little  room  was  there  for  such  mutual  forbearance  of 
judgment  while  the  fight  was  on.  For  the  average  man,  for 
most  men,  to  fight  means  also  to  hate.  While  the  contest 
lasted,  Northerners  habitually  spoke  of  their  foes  as  "  the 
rebels," — not  in  contumely,  but  as  matter-of-fact  descrip 
tion.  They  were  "  rebels  "  in  common  speech,  and  when  one 
warmed  a  little  they  were  "  traitors."  Good  men  said  that 
now  for  the  first  time  they  saw  why  the  imprecatory  Psalms 
were  written, — theirs  was  the  only  cursing  strong  enough 
for  the  country's  enemies.  Quite  as  hearty  was  the  South's 
detestation  of  the  Yankee  invaders  and  despots, — the  fana 
tics  and  their  hired  minions.  The  Southern  feeling  took  the 
keener  edge,  because  sharpened  by  the  bitter  fact  of  in 
vasion  and  the  hardships  it  brought.  With  them  the  home 
suffered,  not  only  as  at  the  North,  by  the  departure  of 
father  or  son  to  danger  or  death ;  the  Southern  homes  often 
saw  the  foes  in  their  midst,  and  sometimes  suffered  ravage 
and  spoil.  "  How  can  you  expect  me  to  be  well  recon 
structed,"  asked  a  Virginian  after  the  war,  "  When  I  remem 
ber  the  family  vaults  in  which  the  silver  plates  were 
wrenched  from  the  coffins  by  your  soldiers?"  When  the 
fighting  was  over,  the  life  of  the  reunited  nation  had  to  work 
its  way  for  a  generation, — and  the  end  is  not  yet, — against 
the  hostilities,  the  rancors,  the  misunderstandings,  gener 
ated  in  those  four  years  of  strife. 


242  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

The  reality  of  war  where  it  fell  heaviest, — in  the  border 
States,  where  neighborhoods  and  families  were  divided, 
and  both  armies  marched  and  fought, — is  touched  by  the 
graphic  pen  of  a  woman,  Mrs.  Rebecca  Harding  Davis, 
who  saw  and  felt  a  part  of  it :  "  The  histories  which  we 
have  of  the  great  tragedy  give  no  idea  of  the  general 
wretchedness,  the  squalid  misery,  which  entered  into  every 
individual  life  in  the  region  given  up  to  the  war.  Where 
the  armies  camped  the  destruction  was  absolute.  Even 
on  the  border,  your  farm  was  a  waste,  all  your  horses 
or  cows  were  seized  by  one  army  or  the  other,  or  your  shop 
or  manufactory  was  closed,  your  trade  ruined.  You  had 
no  money;  you  drank  coffee  made  of  roasted  parsnips  for 
breakfast,  and  ate  only  potatoes  for  dinner.  Your  nearest 
kinsfolk  and  friends  passed  you  on  the  street  silent  and 
scowling;  if  you  said  what  you  thought  you  were  liable  to 
be  dragged  to  the  county  jail  and  left  there  for  months. 
The  subject  of  the  war  was  never  broached  in  your  home 
where  opinions  differed;  but  one  morning  the  boys  were 
missing.  No  one  said  a  word,  but  one  gray  head  was  bent, 
and  the  happy  light  died  out  of  the  old  eyes  and  never  came 
to  them  again.  Below  all  the  squalor  and  discomfort  was 
the  agony  of  suspense  or  the  certainty  of  death.  But  the 
parsnip  coffee  and  the  empty  purse  certainly  did  give  a 
sting  to  the  great  overwhelming  misery,  like  gnats  torment 
ing  a  wounded  man." 

Visiting  in  war-time  the  sages  of  Concord,  she  saw  the 
difference  between  war  as  viewed  by  visionaries  at  a  dis 
tance  and  the  reality :  "  I  remember  listening  during  one 
long  summer  morning  to  Louisa  Alcott's  father  as  he 
chanted  paeans  to  the  war,  the  *  armed  angel  which  was 
wakening  the  nation  to  a  lofty  life  unknown  before.'  We 
were  in  the  little  parlor  of  the  Wayside,  Mr.  Hawthorne's 
house  in  Concord.  Mr.  Alcott  stood  in  front  of  the  fire- 


The   Civil    War  243 

place,  his  long  gray  hair  streaming  over  his  collar,  his  pale 
eyes  turning  quickly  from  one  listener  to  another  to  hold 
them  quiet,  his  hands  waving  to  keep  time  with  the  orotund 
sentences  which  had  a  stale,  familiar  ring  as  if  often  re 
peated  before.  Mr.  Emerson  stood  listening,  his  head  sunk 
on  his  breast,  with  profound  submissive  attention,  but 
Hawthorne  sat  astride  of  a  chair,  his  arms  folded  on  the 
back,  his  chin  dropped  on  them,  and  his  laughing,  sagacious 
eyes  watching  us,  full  of  mockery. 

"  I  had  come  up  from  the  border  where  I  had  seen  the 
actual  war;  the  filthy  spe wings  of  it;  the  political  jobbery 
in  Union  and  Confederate  camps;  the  malignant  personal 
hatreds  wearing  patriotic  masks,  and  glutted  by  burning 
homes  and  outraged  women ;  the  chances  in  it,  well  improved 
on  both  sides,  for  brutish  men  to  grow  more  brutish,  and  for 
honorable  gentlemen  to  degenerate  into  thieves  and  sots. 
War  may  be  an  armed  angel  with  a  mission,  but  she  has  the 
personal  habits  of  the  slums.  This  would-be  seer  who  was 
talking  of  it,  and  the  real  seer  who  listened,  knew  no  more 
of  war  as  it  was,  than  I  had  done  in  my  cherry-tree  time, 
when  I  dreamed  of  bannered  legions  of  crusaders  debouch 
ing  in  the  misty  fields." 

The  youth  who  reads  may  ask  in  wonder,  "  And  was 
then  the  war  to  which  we  have  been  used  to  look  back  with 
exultation  and  pride, — was  it  but  a  horror  and  a  crime  ?  " 
No;  it  was  something  other  and  more  than  that;  it  had  its 
aspects  of  moral  grandeur  and  of  gain  for  humanity;  it 
was  a  field  for  noble  self-sacrifice,  for  utmost  striving  of 
men  and  deepest  tenderness  of  women,  it  had  its  heroes 
and  martyrs  and  saints ;  it  was  in  the  large  view  the  tremen 
dous  price  of  national  unity  and  universal  freedom.  But 
in  the  exaltation  of  these  better  aspects,  we  have  as  a  people 
too  much  forgotten  the  other  and  awful  side.  That  is  what 
we  need  now  to  be  reminded  of.  For  among  our  present 


244  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

dangers  none  is  greater  than  the  false  glorification  of  war. 
Against  such  glorifications  stands  Sherman's  word,  "  War 
is  hell."  And  on  that  grand  tomb  with  which  our  greatest 
city  crowns  its  proudest  height  is  inscribed,  as  the  one  word 
by  which  Grant  forever  speaks  to  his  countrymen,  "  Let  us 
have  peace." 

The  nobler  side  of  the  war  is  told  and  will  be  told  in 
many  a  history  and  biography,  romance  and  poem.  In  the 
broad  view,  the  grandest  fact  was  that  a  multitude  of  men 
and  women  felt  and  acted  as  never  before  for  a  cause 
greater  than  any  personal  gain.  Under  the  discipline  of 
sacrifice  and  suffering,  and  with  the  personal  horizon 
widened  to  take  in  nations  and  races,  a  multitude  on  the 
field  and  at  home  grew  to  loftier  stature.  The  hardships 
and  perils  which  wrecked  some  strengthened  others.  The 
development  of  energy  and  resource  was  beyond  measure. 
The  North  created  armies  and  navies ;  it  organized  a  new 
system  of  finance ;  it  transformed  a  peaceful  industrial  com 
munity  into  an  irresistible  military  force;  and  all  the  while 
it  carried  on  its  productive  industries  with  scarcely  visible 
shrinkage;  farm  and  mill,  school  and  college,  kept  on  with 
their  work.  The  South  made  itself  into  a  solid  army  of 
resistance;  cut  off  from  its  accustomed  sources  of  supply, 
it  developed  for  itself  all  the  essentials  of  material  life;  it 
showed  an  ingenuity  and  resourcefulness  beyond  all  expec 
tation  ;  and  the  fidelity  of  its  slaves  supplied  its  armies  with 
food  while  keeping  its  homes  secure.  In  peace  haunted 
always  by  latent  dread  of  insurrection,  in  war  the  South 
found  its  servants  its  best  friends.  So,  in  both  sections, 
wonders  were  wrought  and  deeds  never  dreamed  of  were 
achieved. 

In  justly  viewing  the  evil  and  the  good  of  war,  we  must 
compare  it  with  other  disturbances  and  catastrophes.  The 
finest  traits  and  highest  efficiency  of  men  come  out  under 


The  Civil  War  245 

disasters  which  yet  it  must  be  our  habitual  effort  to  avert. 
It  is  the  ship  on  the  rocks,  the  theater  on  fire,  that  shows 
the  hero.  But  what  should  we  think  of  one  who  ran  a  ship 
on  shore,  or  set  fire  to  a  theater,  in  order  to  call  out  heroism  ? 
Exactly  so  are  we  to  regard  those  who  glorify  war  as  in 
itself  a  fine  and  admirable  thing,  a  proper  school  and  arena 
of  manhood.  The  refutation  of  such  talk  comes  not  so  well 
from  men  of  the  church  or  closet  as  from  those  who  have 
drunk  deepest  of  war's  reality.  A  man  of  exuberant  vitality, 
whose  personal  delight  in  physical  strife  colors  his  states 
manship,  and  who  is  exhilarated  by  the  memory  of  a  skir 
mish  or  two  in  Cuba,  may  talk  exultantly  of  "  glory  enough 
to  go  round,"  and  preach  soldiering  as  a  splendid  manifes 
tation  of  the  strenuous  life.  But  the  grim  old  warrior 
whose  genius  and  resolution  split  the  Confederacy  like  a 
wedge,  General  Sherman,  in  the  very  midst  of  his  task 
wrote  to  a  friend :  "  I  confess  without  shame  that  I  am 
sick  and  tired  of  the  war.  Its  glory  is  all  moonshine.  Even 
success,  the  most  brilliant,  is  over  dead  and  mangled  bodies, 
the  anguish  and  lamentation  of  distant  families  appealing 
to  me  for  missing  sons,  husbands,  and  fathers.  It  is  only 
those  who  have  not  heard  a  shot,  nor  heard  the  shrieks  and 
groans  of  the  wounded  and  lacerated  (friend  or  foe),  that 
cry  aloud  for  more  blood,  more  vengeance,  more  desola 
tion." 

One  glance  we  here  may  give  at  the  traits  which  against 
this  dark  background  shone  with  the  light  which  redeems 
humanity.  The  worst  scenes  of  all  were  not  on  the  battle 
field  but  in  the  military  prisons.  At  Andersonville,  and  other 
points,  thousands  of  Northern  prisoners  were  crowded 
together,  with  insufficient  supply  of  unnutritious  food,  with 
scanty  and  foul  water;  surrounded  by  harsh  guards,  quick 
to  shoot  if  the  "  dead  line  "  was  crossed  by  a  foot ;  harassed 
by  petty  tyranny;  starved,  homesick,  diseased,  dying  like 


246  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

infected  sheep.  It  is  a  black,  black  page, — but  let  its  black 
ness  be  mainly  charged  to  war  itself,  and  what  war  always 
breeds.  In  Northern  prisons,  the  rate  of  mortality  was 
nearly  as  high  as  in  Southern;  the  work  of  hunger  in  the 
one  was  matched  by  cold  in  the  other.  "  All  things  con 
sidered,"  says  J.  F.  Rhodes  in  his  impartial  History  of  the 
United  States,  "  the  statistics  show  no  reason  why  the 
North  should  reproach  the  South.  If  we  add  to  one  side 
of  the  account  the  refusal  to  exchange  the  prisoners  " — 
a  refusal  based  by  Grant  at  one  time  on  the  military  dis 
advantage  of  restoring  the  Southern  prisoners  to  active  serv 
ice — "  and  the  greater  resources,  and  to  the  other  the 
distress  of  the  Confederacy ;  the  balance  struck  will  not  be 
far  from  even."  Enough  for  our  present  purpose  that  the 
Andersonville  prison-pen  was  a  hell.  Well,  after  a  time 
the  Union  armies  were  recruited  by  negroes,  and  the  Con 
federates  in  resentment  refused  to  consider  these  when 
captured  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  would  not  include  them 
in  the  exchanges.  Thereupon  the  Federal  Government 
declared  that  its  negro  soldiers  must  receive  equal  rights 
with  the  whites,  and  until  this  was  conceded  there  should 
be  no  exchange  at  all.  Then  some  of  the  Andersonville 
prisoners  drew  up  a  petition,  and  signed  and  sent  it  to 
Washington,  praying  the  government  to  hasten  their  release, 
and  if  necessary  to  hold  the  question  of  negro  prisoners 
for  negotiation,  while  pressing  forward  the  liberation  of  its 
faithful  and  suffering  white  soldiers.  But  promptly  by 
others  in  the  prison-pen  a  counter  petition  was  started, 
signed,  and  sent  on.  It  ran  in  substance  thus :  "  We  are 
in  evil  case,  and  we  earnestly  desire  that  you  hasten  our 
deliverance  by  every  means  consistent  with  right  and 
honor.  But — honor  first!  Let  the  nation's  plighted  faith 
to  its  black  soldiers  be  kept,  at  whatever  cost  to  us.  We 
ask  you  to  still  refuse  all  exchange  of  prisoners,  until  the 


The  Civil  War  247 

same  treatment  can  be  secured  for  black  and  white."    Was 
ever  a  braver  deed  than  that? 

One  picture  more.  In  a  military  hospital  at  Washington, 
Walt  Whitman  was  engaged  as  a  volunteer  nurse.  In  a 
letter  to  a  friend,  he  depicted  in  a  few  sentences  the  tragedy 
of  it  all,  and  yet  the  triumph  of  the  spirit  over  the  body 
and  over  death  itself.  He  wrote  of  a  Northern  hospital, 
but  the  like  might  be  seen  on  Southern  soil,  as  to-day  among 
Russians  or  Japanese, — it  is  the  tragedy  and  triumph  of 
humanity.  "  These  thousands,  and  tens  and  twenties  of 
thousands,  of  American  young  men,  badly  wounded  .  .  . 
operated  on,  pallid  with  diarrhoea,  languishing,  dying  with 
fever,  pneumonia,  etc.,  open  a  new  world  somehow  to  me, 
giving  closer  insights,  .  .  .  showing  our  humanity 
.  .  .  tried  by  terrible,  fearful  tests,  probed  deepest,  the 
living  souls,  the  body's  tragedies,  bursting  the  petty  bonds 
of  art.  To  these,  what  are  your  dreams  and  poems,  even 
the  oldest  and  the  tearfulest?  .  .  .  For  here  I  see,  not 
at  intervals,  but  quite  always,  how  certain  man,  our  Ameri 
can  man, — how  he  holds  himself  cool  and  unquestioned 
master  above  all  pains  and  bloody  mutilation.  .  .  .  This, 
then,  what  frightened  us  all  so  long!  Why,  it  is  put  to 
flight  with  ignominy — a  mere  stuffed  scarecrow  of  the  fields. 
Oh,  death,  where  is  thy  sting?  Oh,  grave,  where  is  thy 
victory  ?  " 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

EMANCIPATION  BEGUN 

\WHEN  the  war  began,  the  absorbing  issue  at  the  North 
was  the  maintenance  of  the  Union.  The  supreme,  uniting 
purpose  was  the  restoration  of  the  national  authority. 
Slavery  had  fallen  into  the  background.  But  it  soon  began 
to  come  again  to  the  front.  Two  tendencies  existed  at  the 
North ;  one,  to  seek  the  restoration  of  the  old  state  of  things 
unchanged;  the  other,  to  seize  the  opportunity  of  war  to 
put  an  end  to  slavery,  "j 

The  pressure  of  events  raised  special  questions  which 
must  be  met.  As  soon  as  Northern  armies  were  on  Southern 
soil,  slaves  began  to  take  refuge  in  the  camps,  and  their 
masters,  loyal  in  fact  or  in  profession,  followed  with  a  de 
mand  for  their  return.  Law  seemed  on  the  master's  side; 
but  the  use  of  the  army,  engaged  in  such  a  war,  to  send  slaves 
back  to  bondage,  was  most  repugnant.  At  first  some  com 
manders  took  one  course,  some  another.  General  Butler, 
a  volunteer  from  Massachusetts,  hit  on  a  happy  solution ; 
he  declared  that  slaves,  being  available  to  the  enemy  for 
hostile  purposes,  were  like  arms,  gunpowder,  etc.,  "  contra 
band  of  war,"  and  could  not  be  reclaimed.  The  stroke  was 
welcomed  with  cheers  and  laughter ;  and  "  contraband  "  be 
came  a  catchword.  Congress,  in  March,  1862,  forbade  the 
army  and  navy  to  return  fugitives. 

General  Fremont  was  in  command  in  Missouri.  He  was 
ardent  and  uncompromising,  and  in  August,  1861,  he  issued 
a  drastic  proclamation,  declaring  the  State  under  martial 
law,  threatening  death  to  all  taken  with  arms  in  their  hands, 

248 


Emancipation  Begun  249 

and  giving  freedom  to  the  slaves  of  all  rebels.  The  Presi 
dent  remonstrated  by  letter  against  this  too  heroic  surgery, 
and  when  Fremont  declined  to  modify  his  order,  used  his 
authority  to  cancel  it.  The  public  reception  of  the  incident 
marked  and  heightened  the  growing  division  of  sentiment ; 
the  conservatives  and  especially  the  border  State  men,  were 
alarmed  and  indignant  at  Fremont's  action,  while  he  became 
at  once  a  favorite  of  the  strong  anti-slavery  men. 

This  divergence  among  his  own  supporters  added  another 
to  the  complications  which  beset  Lincoln  and  taxed  him  to 
the  utmost.  He  had  extraordinary  tact  and  shrewdness  in 
managing  men,  and  in  dealing  with  tangled  situations.  He 
showed  this  power  toward  his  Cabinet  officers,  who  included 
the  most  various  material, — Seward,  accomplished,  resource 
ful,  somewhat  superficial,  but  thoroughly  loyal  to  his  chief 
after  he  knew  him,  managing  the  foreign  relations  with 
admirable  skill,  and  somewhat  conservative  in  his  views; 
Chase,  very  able  as  a  financier  and  jurist,  but  intensely 
ambitious  of  the  Presidency,  regarded  as  a  radical  as  to 
slavery;  Stanton,  a  great  war  minister  but  of  harsh  and 
intractable  temper.  These  men  and  their  colleagues  Lincoln 
handled  so  skilfully  as  to  get  the  best  each  had  to  contri 
bute,  and  keep  them  and  the  political  elements  they  repre 
sented  in  working  harmony.  No  less  successfully  did  he 
deal  with  Congress,  guiding  it  to  a  great  extent,  but 
acquiescing  in  occasional  defeats  and  disappointments  so 
patiently  that  he  disarmed  hostility.  He  kept  in  closest 
touch  with  the  common  people;  he  was  accessible  to  every 
one,  listened  to  each  man's  grievance,  remonstrance,  or 
advice ;  and  acquired  an  instinctive  knowledge  of  what  was 
in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  millions. 

In  his  own  conduct,  his  guiding  principle  was  fidelity  to 
his  official  duty  as  he  read  it  in  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws.  He  felt  the  specific,  supreme  task  laid  upon  him  to  be 


250  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  restoration  and  maintenance  of  the  Union.  And  to 
succeed  in  that,  he  knew  he  must  rightly  interpret  and 
enforce  the  general  sentiment  and  desire  of  the  loyal  people. 
If  he  let  them  become  so  divided  as  to  no  longer  act  together, 
the  cause  was  lost.  And  to  follow  any  personal  opinion  or 
conviction  of  his  own,  in  disregard  of  his  official  duty,  or  in 
defiance  of  the  popular  will,  was  to  betray  his  trust. 

It  was  under  these  conditions  that  Lincoln  dealt  with 
slavery.  No  man  more  than  he  detested  the  institution,  or 
desired  its  removal.  But  he  felt  that  he  had  no  right  to 
touch  it,  except  as  empowered  by  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws,  or  as  guided  by  the  supreme  necessity  of  saving  the 
nation's  life.  Beyond  that  he  had  no  authority.  Beyond 
that,  his  position  toward  slavery  must  be  like  that  of  a 
President  toward,  for  example,  a  system  of  religion  which 
he  believed  to  be  false  and  injurious.  Be  he  intensely  ortho 
dox,  believing  infidelity  to  be  the  road  to  hell, — yet  he  must 
not  as  President,  put  a  straw  across  the  path  of  the  free 
thinker.  Be  he  as  heretical  as  Thomas  Jefferson,  he  must 
not  as  President,  any  more  than  did  Jefferson,  lay  a  finger 
on  the  churches.  Just  so  did  Lincoln  feel  himself  restricted 
as  to  slavery, — he  could  not  touch  it,  except  as  the  civil 
laws  brought  it  within  his  province,  or  unless  as  supreme 
military  commander  the  laws  and  necessities  of  war  brought 
it  within  his  authority. 

Congress  soon  proceeded  to  discuss  questions  about 
slavery.  Sumner,  the  foremost  leader  of  the  radicals,  pro 
posed  resolutions,  in  February,  1862,  declaring  that  the 
seceded  States  had  by  their  acts  extinguished  their  State 
organizations  and  relapsed  into  a  territorial  condition,  sub 
ject  only  to  Congress;  and  that  slavery  within  them,  exist 
ing  only  by  a  local  authority  now  defunct,  was  thus 
abolished.  Congress  would  take  no  such  ground  as  that. 
But,  as  within  its  proper  sphere,  it  abolished  slavery  in  the 


Emancipation  Begun  251 

District  of  Columbia,  in  April,  1862,  giving  compensation 
to  owners  at  a  maximum  rate  of  $300  for  each  slave.  And 
in  the  following  June,  it  abolished  slavery  in  all  the 
national  territories, — thus  giving  full  force  to  the  cardinal 
doctrine  of  the  Republican  party  up  to  the  war.  But  the 
war  had  inevitably  brought  a  more  radical  issue  to  the 
front, — the  question  of  slavery  in  the  States. 

Under  the  name  of  a  confiscation  act,  Congress  passed  a 
law,  July  17,  1862,  which  declared  freedom  to  all  slaves  of 
convicted  rebels;  to  slaves  of  rebels  escaping  within  the 
army  lines,  or  captured,  or  deserted  by  their  masters;  and 
to  all  slaves  of  rebels  found  in  places  captured  and  occupied 
by  the  Union  army.  This  came  near  to  making  the  abolition 
of  slavery  follow  exactly  the  progress  of  the  Union  arms. 
But,  leaving  untouched  the  slave  property  of  loyalists,  it 
spared  the  institution  as  a  system. 

Lincoln,  in  many  ways  a  man  of  the  people  by  his  convic 
tions  and  sympathies,  in  other  aspects  towered  in  solitude. 
He  was  almost  unique  in  that  he  could  fight — fight  if  need 
were  to  the  death, — with  no  spark  of  hatred  in  his  heart. 
In  the  midst  of  war  he  was  a  devoted  peace-lover.  To  an 
old  friend,  though  a  political  opponent,  Congressman  D.  W. 
Voorhees,  of  Indiana,  who  called  on  him  at  the  White 
House,  he  said  with  a  pathetic  look  of  anxious  pain: 
"  Voorhees,  doesn't  it  seem  strange  that  I  should  be  here — 
I,  a  man  who  couldn't  cut  a  chicken's  head  ofT, — with  blood 
running  all  around  me  ?  "  While  he  was  overseeing  cam 
paigns,  selecting  and  rejecting  generals,  learning  the  busi 
ness  of  a  commander,  keeping  touch  with  all  the  great  mat 
ters  of  administration,  besieged  by  office-seekers,  impor 
tuned  by  people  in  all  manner  of  private  troubles, — he  found 
intervals  in  which  to  devise  ways  out  of  the  horrid  busi 
ness  of  war,  ways  that  might  lead  both  to  peace  and 
freedom. 


252  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

The  key  of  the  situation  he  thought  lay  largely  with  the 
border  States, — Maryland,  Missouri  and  Kentucky, — all  of 
them  formally  in  the  Union,  but  their  population  divided, 
sending  recruits  to  both  armies,  and  with  hopes  in  the  Con 
federacy  that  they  might  be  entirely  won  over.  If  they 
could  be  bound  faster  to  the  Union,  if  at  the  same  time  they 
could  be  helped  to  make  themselves  free  States, — then  might 
the  Union  cause  be  mightily  helped,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  work  of  emancipation  be  begun.  Aiming  at  this  result, 
Lincoln  sent  a  message  to  Congress,  March  6,  1862,  pro 
posing  this  resolution :  "  That  the  United  States  ought  to 
co-operate  with  any  State  which  may  adopt  gradual 
abolishment  of  slavery,  giving  to  such  State  pecuniary  aid, 
to  be  used  by  such  State,  in  its  discretion,  to  compensate 
for  the  inconveniences,  public  and  private,  produced  by  such 
change  of  system."  He  urged  this  with  special  reference 
to  its  application  in  the  border  States;  and,  inviting  the 
Congressional  members  of  these  States  in  a  body  to  the 
White  House,  he  pleaded  with  them  earnestly  to  support  the 
resolution,  and  apply  the  plan.  They  listened,  but  were 
non-committal.  Congress  received  the  plan  coolly.  The 
Radicals  were  little  in  the  humor  of  compensating  slave 
holders,  and  the  Conservatives  apprehended  a  progressive 
attack  on  slavery.  But  the  President's  influence  triumphed ; 
the  resolution  passed  in  mid- April ;  and  the  nation  pledged 
itself  to  assist  compensated  emancipation  in  any  State  that 
would  adopt  it. 

Nothing  came  of  it.  The  border  States  did  not  move. 
Three  months  later,  July  12,  their  delegations  were  again 
invited  to  the  White  House.  The  situation  was  at  the 
gravest ;  McClellan's  army  had  been  baffled  in  the  desperate 
seven-days'  fight;  factions  at  the  North  were  growing  hot. 
Lincoln  pleaded  reasonably,  movingly,  that  they  would  bring 
decisive  help  to  the  national  cause,  by  committing  their 


Emancipation  Begun  253 

States  to  emancipation,  with  help  from  the  nation,  gradually 
if  they  pleased,  with  colonization  if  they  desired — peace, 
union,  freedom,  all  lay  that  way!  Two  days  they  took  to 
make  answer,  and  then  of  the  twenty-nine  members  only 
nine  were  favorable;  the  rest  with  one  accord  began  to 
make  excuse, — and  that  hope  failed. 

Events  were  forcing  on  the  question  of  slavery.  In  the 
previous  May,  General  David  Hunter,  in  South  Carolina, 
finding  himself  with  10,000  fugitives  in  his  camps,  whom  the 
laws  forbade  him  to  return  to  their  masters  and  did  not 
permit  him  to  hold  as  slaves,  met  the  difficulty  by  a  procla 
mation,  declaring  that  the  martial  law  of  the  United  States 
was  incompatible  with  slavery,  and  the  slaves  in  his  military 
district — South  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Florida, — were  set 
free.  Again  the  President  overruled  his  subordinate,  but 
in  the  proclamation  he  distinctly  said  that  the  question  of 
emancipation  as  a  military  necessity  belonged  to  himself 
as  commander-in-chief.  It  was  a  note  of  warning.  Twenty 
years  before,  John  Quincy  Adams  had  written, — and  the 
words  came  from  a  conservative  statesman  of  the  highest 
standing :  "  I  say  that  the  military  authority  takes  for  the 
time  the  place  of  all  municipal  institutions,  and  slavery 
among  the  rest " ;  and  had  elaborated  and  reiterated  the 
doctrine  that  in  case  of  war  slavery  might  be  abolished  by 
the  commander.  These  statements  had  lately  been  recalled ; 
the  action  of  Fremont  and  Hunter  had  given  life  to  the 
idea;  and  Lincoln  now  intimated  that  he  might  yet  assume 
this  authority. 

Party  divisions  had  soon  reappeared  at  the  North.  The 
Democrats  were  not  harmonious;  a  part  called  themselves 
"  War  Democrats,"  and  a  part  were  ready  to  let  the  South 
go,  or  went  as  near  that  as  they  prudently  could ;  now  one 
and  now  the  other  faction  controlled  the  party  according 
to  time  and  locality.  The  Republicans  were  more  united, 


254  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

yet  among  them  was  a  cleavage  between  conservatives  and 
radicals ;  the  one  taking  for  their  watchword,  "  the  Con 
stitution  as  it  is  and  the  Union  as  it  was  " ;  the  other  eager 
to  see  the  war  turned  against  slavery ;  and  both  claiming  the 
President,  and  jealously  watching  any  leaning  on  his  part 
toward  their  rivals. 

There  was  developing  at  the  North  a  profound  sentiment 
for  attacking  slavery.  The  war  was  protracted  beyond  all 
early  expectation;  it  was  costly,  bitter,  woeful.  What  was 
to  be  at  last  the  recompense  for  all  this  blood  and  tears? 
Was  there,  if  victory  came  at  last,  to  be  with  it  no  advance, 
nothing  but  the  old  Union,  half  slave  and  half  free?  For 
nothing  better  than  this  were  sons,  fathers,  brothers,  hus 
bands  to  be  sacrificed?  Was  the  nation  crossing  a  Red 
Sea  of  anguish  only  to  emerge  into  the  old  bondage  ?  Rather, 
let  us  fight  at  once  for  union  and  for  liberty ! 

Those  who  voiced  this  cry  could  not  always  seethe  diffi 
culties  that  beset  the  President.  Many  of  them  failed  to 
realize  that  at  heart  he  was  as  true  to  freedom  as  they. 
Even  Lowell,  in  the  later  Biglow  Papers,  which  pleaded 
with  deeper  pathos  and  power  than  before  for  freedom — even 
he  could  write  of  "  hoisting  your  captain's  heart  up  with  a 
derrick."  Wendell  Phillips  on  one  occasion,  impatient  of 
Lincoln's  attitude  toward  the  fugitive  slave  law,  called  him 
"  the  slave-hound  from  Illinois."  Beecher, — who  did  great 
service,  especially  by  his  speeches  in  England,— wrote  in 
the  Independent  a  series  of  articles,  to  spur  the  President 
to  more  pronounced  action.  Some  one  gave  the  articles  to 
Lincoln;  he  sat  down  and  read  them  all,  then  rose  to  his 
feet  exclaiming,  "  Am  I  a  dog  ?  " 

All  this  time  the  conservatives  were  no  less  urgent  that 
the  President  must  make  no  move  against  slavery.  Among 
their  spokesmen  was  General  McClellan.  On  him  rested 
the  chief  hope  of  the  North  for  military  success  during  the 


Emancipation  Begun 

year  following  the  disaster  of  Bull  Run.  He  was  an  admir 
able  organizer  and  a  good  theoretical  strategist ;  his  care  for 
his  men  won  their  affection ;  and  sometimes  in  the  field  he 
struck  heavy  and  effective  blows.  But  he  was  always  prone 
to  overrate  the  enemy's  resources  and  underrate  his  own; 
he  was  slow  to  follow  up  a  success ;  and  he  lacked  the  bull 
dog  grip  by  which  Grant  won.  Right  on  the  heels  of  his 
failure  in  the  seven-days'  fight  in  the  Peninsula,  he  wrote 
a  letter  to  the  President,  from  Harrison's  Landing,  July  7, 
1862,  lecturing  him  severely  as  to  the  errors  he  must  avoid. 
Nothing  must  be  done  or  said  looking  to  confiscation,  forci 
ble  abolition,  or  territorial  organization  of  the  States. 
"  Until  the  principles  governing  the  future  conduct  of  our 
struggle  shall  be  made  known  and  approved,  the  effort  to 
obtain  requisite  forces  will  be  almost  hopeless.  A  declara 
tion  of  radical  views,  especially  upon  slavery,  will  rapidly 
disintegrate  our  armies."  This  letter  was  given  to  the  public, 
and  on  this  platform  McClellan  began  to  loom  up  as  an 
opposition  candidate  for  the  Presidency. 

So  Lincoln  was  buffeted  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the 
left.  In  this  summer  of  1862,  Greeley  wrote  in  the  Tribune, 
August  20,  an  open  letter  to  the  President,  upbraiding  him 
for  his  slackness  against  slavery.  Lincoln  replied,  August 
22,  in  a  letter  which  startled  many  of  his  friends,  and  to  this 
day  bewilders  those  who  do  not  understand  the  man  himself 
or  the  position  in  which  he  stood.  He  wrote :  "  I  would 
save  the  Union,  I  would  save  it  the  shortest  way  under  the 
Constitution.  .  .  .  My  paramount  object  in  this  struggle 
is  to  save  the  Union,  and  is  not  either  to  save  or  to  destroy 
slavery.  If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any 
slave,  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all 
the  slaves  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing 
some  and  leaving  others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that."  In 
fact,  the  last  was  the  course  which  he  eventually  took. 


256  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

This  letter  stated  with  full  sincerity  Lincoln's  basal  prin 
ciple.  It  was  not  necessary  to  add  that  the  purpose  was 
growing  within  him  to  save  the  Union  by  freeing  the  slaves 
in  the  seceded  States.  The  very  growth  of  that  purpose 
made  it  necessary  for  him  to  freshly  bind  to  himself  the 
conservatives  whose  only  care  was  for  the  Union  and  not 
for  emancipation.  Nothing  could  serve  this  purpose  better 
than  the  declaration  in  this  letter  to  Greeley.  In  Lincoln, 
sincerity  and  shrewdness  were  thoroughly  blended. 

At  a  later  day  he  told  the  artist  Frank  Carpenter,  when 
he  was  to  paint  "  The  Signing  of  the  Emancipation  Procla 
mation":  "It  had  got  to  be  mid-summer,  1862.  Things 
had  gone  on  from  bad  to  worse,  until  I  felt  that  we  had 
reached  the  end  of  our  rope  on  the  plan  we  had  been  pursu 
ing;  that  we  had  about  played  our  last  card,  and  must 
change  our  tactics  or  lose  the  game.  I  now  determined  upon 
the  adoption  of  the  emancipation  policy ;  and  without  con 
sultation  with,  or  the  knowledge  of,  the  Cabinet,  I  prepared 
the  original  draft  of  the  proclamation,  and  after  much 
anxious  thought,  called  a  Cabinet  meeting  upon  the  sub 
ject.  ...  I  said  to  the  Cabinet  that  I  had  resolved 
upon  this  step,  and  had  not  called  them  together  to  ask 
their  advice,  but  to  lay  the  subject-matter  of  a  proclamation 
before  them,  suggestions  as  to  which  would  be  in  order 
after  they  had  heard  it  read."  This  proclamation — the  first 
sketch — set  forth  that  at  the  next  meeting  of  Congress, 
four  months  later,  the  President  designs  to  again  recommend 
a  practical  measure  for  tendering  pecuniary  aid  to  any  State 
then  recognizing  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  which 
should  have  adopted,  or  should  thereafter  adopt,  gradual 
abolishment  of  slavery;  that  the  object  of  this  is  to  promote 
the  restoration  of  constitutional  relations  between  the  gen 
eral  government  and  all  the  States ;  and  finally,  as  comman- 
der-in-chief,  the  President  declares  that  from  the  first  of 


Emancipation  Begun  257 

January  next  all  slaves  in  States  still  rejecting  the  national 
authority  shall  then  and  forever  be  free. 

The  Cabinet  were  amazed — and  divided.  Only  Stanton 
and  Bates  were  for  immediate  promulgation.  Chase  thought 
it  would  be  better  to  leave  the  matter  to  district  commanders, 
but  would  support  the  proclamation  as  better  than  inaction. 
Blair  opposed  it  as  likely  to  be  unpopular  and  lose  the  Fall 
election.  All  this  Lincoln  had  weighed  beforehand.  But 
now  came  a  suggestion  from  Seward,  that  the  immediate 
time  was  inopportune,  because  just  after  military  reverses 
(McClellan's  Peninsula  defeat)  it  would  seem  like  a  desper 
ate  cry  for  help, — "  our  last  shriek  on  the  retreat,"  as  Lin 
coln  phrased  it.  His  judgment  welcomed  this  as  a  wise 
suggestion,  and  he  put  the  draft  of  the  proclamation  aside 
and  waited  for  victory.  Among  the  elements  which  entered 
into  his  decisions  was  a  subtle  instinct  as  to  when  and  how 
far  he  could  command  the  support  of  the  various  elements 
on  whom  success  depended.  His  rare  capacity  as  a  listener, 
and  his  keen  sagacity,  enabled  him  to  divine  that  the  hour 
was  at  hand  when  a  decisive  move  against  slavery  would 
attract  more  support  than  it  would  repel.  Seward's  sug 
gestion  gave  the  final  shape  to  his  purpose. 

This  happened  July  22,  1862;  and  when  the  President 
made  his  calm  reply  to  Greeley's  onslaught  a  month  later, 
the  unsigned  proclamation  lay  in  his  desk,  and  he  was  still 
waiting  for  a  victory  before  he  issued  it. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

EMANCIPATION   ACHIEVED 

INSTEAD  of  victory  came  defeat.  Pope,  taking  the  com 
mand  after  McClellan's  failure,  was  beaten  and  driven  back 
in  the  second  battle  of  Bull  Run,  and  matters  were  at  the 
worst.  McClellan  was  recalled ;  his  genius  for  organization 
rehabilitated  the  demoralized  army;  the  soldiers'  confidence 
in  their  old  chief  gave  them  new  courage.  When  Lee,  after 
a  year  on  the  defensive,  took  the  offensive  and  entered 
Maryland,  he  was  beaten  and  turned  back  at  Antietam. 

Then  Lincoln  summoned  his  cabinet  again,  September  22, 
1862.  Before  he  spoke  the  momentous  word,  he  freshened 
himself  in  his  own  way, — he  said  that  Artemus  Ward  had 
sent  him  his  book,  and  he  would  read  them  a  chapter  which 
he  thought  very  funny ;  and  read  it  he  did,  with  great  enjoy 
ment;  the  secretaries  also  laughing  as  in  duty  bound — all 
except  Stanton !  Then  the  President  became  grave  enough — 
he  told  them  that  he  had  been  thinking  a  great  deal  about 
the  proclamation  he  had  read  them  two  months  before; 
that  victory  seemed  to  have  brought  a  favorable  occasion; 
that  when  the  rebel  army  was  at  Fredericksburg  he  deter 
mined  as  soon  as  it  was  driven  out  of  Maryland  to  proclaim 
emancipation.  He  went  on :  "I  said  nothing  to  any  one, 
but  I  made  the  promise  to  myself,  and," — hesitating  a  little — 
"  to  my  Maker."  So  now,  he  tells  them,  he  fulfills  that 
promise.  One  last  word, — some  other  might  do  better  than 
he ;  he  would  surrender  his  place  to  a  better  man  if  he  saw 
the  way ;  he  believes  that  he  has  not  so  much  of  the  confi- 

258 


Emancipation  Achieved  259 

dence  of  the  people  as  he  once  had,  but  on  the  whole  he 
does  not  know  that  any  one  has  more,  and  at  any  rate  there 
is  no  way  for  him  to  give  place  to  any  other.  "  I  am  here ; 
I  must  do  the  best  I  can,  and  bear  the  responsibility  of  taking 
the  course  which  I  feel  I  ought  to  take."  It  is  the  counter 
part  of  Luther's  "  Here  stand  I ;  I  cannot  do  otherwise ;  God 
help  me !  " 

Discussion  in  the  Cabinet :  general  approval ;  slight  modifi 
cation  only.  The  proclamation  runs  on  the  original  lines; 
compensated  abolition  recommended;  colonization  favored; 
freedom  to  be  declared  next  New  Year's  day  to  all  slaves 
in  rebellious  States:  ultimate  compensation  recommended 
for  all  loyal  owners.  The  proclamation  is  issued,  September 
23,  1862,  and  the  nation  is  inexorably  committed  to  emanci 
pation, — compensated  if  possible ;  forcible  if  necessary ;  par 
tial  at  first,  but  moving  inevitably,  swiftly,  toward  universal 
freedom*? 

The  proclamation  with  its  sequence  was  the  best  Lincoln 
found  himself  able  to  do.  What  he  wanted  to  do, — his  own 
ideal  which  he  could  not  bring  his  countrymen  to  accept, — 
was  shown  in  his  message  to  Congress  when  it  met  in  De 
cember.  The  main  burden  of  that  message  was  an  earnest 
plea  for  action  on  the  line  of  compensated  emancipation. 
The  President  proposed  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution, 
to  this  effect:  every  State  abolishing  slavery  before  1900  to 
receive  compensation  from  the  United  States,  at  some  fixed 
rate,  in  government  bonds;  meantime,  all  slaves  freed  by 
chances  of  war  to  remain  free,  with  compensation  to  loyal 
owners;  Congress  authorized  to  spend  money  for  coloniza 
tion  of  such  as  wish  to  go.  For  the  general  plan  of  com 
pensation  Lincoln  argues  as  broadly  and  calmly  as  if  dealing 
with  a  purely  economic  question,  and  with  the  restrained 
fervor  of  the  patriot  and  statesman.  He  dwells  on  the  vast 
growth  which  the  country  promises;  on  the  increasing  re- 


260  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

sources  which  will  make  light  the  burden  of  ransoming  the 
slaves;  the  safety  of  a  process  of  gradual  liberation;  the 
humane,  economic,  Christian  superiority  of  this  settlement 
instead  of  prolonged  war.  This  is  the  close :  "  We,  even 
we  here,  hold  the  power  and  bear  the  responsibility.  In 
giving  freedom  to  the  slave  we  assure  freedom  to  the  free — 
honorable  alike  in  what  we  give  and  what  we  preserve. 
We  shall  nobly  save  or  meanly  lose  the  last  best  hope  of 
earth.  Other  means  may  succeed ;  this  could  not  fail.  The 
way  is  plain,  peaceful,  generous,  just — a  way  which,  if 
followed,  the  world  will  forever  applaud  and  God  must 
forever  bless." 

But  as  for  practical  effect,  he  might  as  well  have  read  Dr. 
Watts's  Cradle-hymn  to  a  couple  of  fighting  bulldogs.  The 
proposition  of  compensated  emancipation  was  thirty  years 
too  late.  Now  the  blood  of  both  sections  was  up,  the  fight 
ing  animal  in  man  let  loose, — and  they  would  go  on  indefi 
nitely  killing  and  being  killed,  to  free  the  slaves  or  to  hold 
them,  but  they  would  not  lay  down  their  arms  and  peacefully 
share  the  light  burden  of  emancipation. 

So  came  in  New  Year's  day,  1863,  and  the  final  word  was 
spoken,  declaring  freedom  to  all  the  slaves  in  Arkansas, 
Texas,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Florida,  Georgia,  the  Caro- 
linas  and  the  greater  portion  of  Virginia  and  Louisiana; 
enjoining  good  order  on  the  freedmen ;  and  opening  the  army 
and  navy  to  their  enlistment.  "  And  upon  this  act,  sincerely 
believed  to  be  an  act  of  justice,  warranted  by  the  Constitu 
tion  upon  military  necessity,  I  invoke  the  considerate  judg 
ment  of  mankind,  and  the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty  God." 

How  far,  it  may  be  asked,  was  the  military  necessity  on 
which  the  proclamation  was  based  actually  met  by  its  results  ? 
Immediate  gain,  in  a  military  sense,  did  not  accrue.  Not 
a  slave  was  freed  except  as  the  ground  was  conquered  foot 
by  foot.  But  by  opening  the  door  to  the  enlistment  of 


Emancipation  Achieved  261 

negroes,  there  was  soon  a  substantial  advantage  won  to  the 
Union  armies ;  for,  enlisting  by  many  thousands,  they  proved 
themselves  docile,  trustworthy,  and  not  lacking  in  courage. 
In  the  last  two  years  of  the  war,  they  added  nearly  200,000 
men  to  the  Union  forces.  They  were  not  considered  equal 
to  white  soldiers,  for  they  succumbed  far  more  easily  to 
wounds  and  disease;  and  though  their  officers  were  chary 
of  exposing  them  in  battle,  their  mortality  was  greater  than 
that  of  the  whites.  In  a  sense  broader  than  the  military, 
the  first  results  of  the  emancipation  policy  were  adverse. 
It  was  said  by  many  that  the  proclamation  would  "  unite  the 
South  and  divide  the  North."  The  seceded  States  could 
hardly  be  more  united  than  they  were  before,  but  a  fresh 
motive  was  added  to  their  struggle.  In  the  border  States, 
there  was  a  wide  alienation  of  slave  owners  and  their  sym 
pathizers.  At  the  North,  a  similar  effect  was  obvious  at 
first.  From  the  day  of  the  first  proclamation,  a  war  now 
evidently  waged  in  part  for  emancipation  lost  favor  with 
many  who  cared  nothing  for  the  slaves.  The  elections  two 
months  later,  in  November,  1862,  were  disastrous.  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Illinois  and  Indiana,  all  went 
against  the  administration.  Its  majority  in  Congress  was 
greatly  reduced. 

But  the  emancipation  proclamation  had  struck  deep  to 
the  hidden  springs  of  power.  For  the  exigencies  of  a  pro 
longed  and  desperate  struggle,  it  had  evoked  the  full  power 
of  a  great  sentiment.  It  had  roused  the  passion  of  freedom 
which  nerves  men  to  suffer  and  die.  It  was  an  unselfish 
passion, — it  was  for  the  freedom  of  other  men  that  the  North 
now  fought.  The  loss  of  the  half-hearted  and  the  material 
ists  was  outweighed  by  the  enlistment  of  the  enthusiasts 
for  humanity.  And  the  sympathies  of  the  nations,  which 
had  wavered  while  the  Union  cause  was  declared  to  be  apart 
from  the  slavery  question,  now  swung  weightily  to  the 


262  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

side   of   the    North,    since   it   was    avowedly    the    side    of 
freedom. 

By  his  proclamation,  Lincoln  had, — to  use  his  language 
to  Greeley, — "  freed  some  and  left  others  alone."  He  could 
not  go  further  on  the  ground  of  military  necessity.  But 
the  work,  or  the  promise,  could  not  be  left  in  that  imperfect 
shape.  The  natural  resource  was  soon  found, — universal 
freedom  by  a  constitutional  amendment.  This,  the  Thir 
teenth  Amendment,  was  brought  forward  in  April,  1864, 
and  received  more  than  the  necessary  two-thirds  vote  in 
the  Senate — 38  to  6;  but  in  the  House  (elected  in  the  re 
action  of  1862)  only  95  to  66.  The  next  winter  it  was 
brought  up  again  in  the  same  House,  but  a  House  enlight 
ened  now  by  the  Republican  victory  in  Lincoln's  re-election ; 
and  strongly  urged  by  him  it  won  the  necessary  two-thirds 
vote — 119  to  56.  The  States  had  still  to  pass  upon  it,  after 
the  war,  but  to  resist  emancipation  then  was  fighting  against 
the  stars  in  their  courses ;  and  only  Kentucky  and  Delaware 
rejected  the  amendment,  while  Texas  was  silent,  and  Ala 
bama  and  Mississippi  gave  a  qualified  assent.  The  amend 
ment  was  declared  adopted,  December  18,  1865,  and  on  that 
day  slavery  in  the  United  States  came  to  an  end. 

When  the  issue  was  finally  shaped  by  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  of  January  i,  1863,  both  sides  set  themselves 
anew  for  the  grim  struggle — two  years  more  of  hard  fight 
ing.  Since  fighting  it  must  be,  they  bore  themselves  all, 
let  us  say,  as  brave  men  and  women, — North  and  South, 
white  and  black.  The  Confederates  came  often  into  dire 
extremities.  Men  whose  lives  had  been  luxurious  fared  on 
the  plainest  and  hardest.  Delicate  women  bore  privations 
uncomplainingly,  and  toiled  and  nursed  and  endured.  Food, 
clothing,  medicines  were  scant.  Invasion  was  borne,  with 
its  humiliation  and  suffering,  its  train  of  ravage  and  desola 
tion.  The  supporting  motive  was  the  common  defense,  the 


Emancipation  Achieved  263 

comradeship  of  danger  and  of  courage.  The  Confederacy 
and  its  flag  had  won  the  devotion  which  sacrifice  and  suf 
fering  breed.  Little  thought  was  there  of  slavery,  little  cal 
culation  of  the  future,  as  the  siege  grew  closer  and  the 
shadows  darkened — but  an  indomitable  purpose  to  hold  on 
and  fight  on.  The  chief  hero  of  the  Confederacy  was  Lee. 
He  was  the  embodiment  and  symbol  of  what  the  Southern 
people  most  believed  in  and  cared  for.  He  was  not  one  of 
those  who  had  brought  on  the  trouble;  his  whole  attitude 
had  been  defensive.  He  and  his  Army  of  Northern  Vir 
ginia  were  the  shield  of  the  South.  A  skilful  commander, 
strong  to  strike  and  wary  to  ward;  his  personality  merged 
in  the  cause;  gentle  as  he  was  strong, — his  army  trusted 
and  followed  him  with  a  faith  that  grew  with  every  victory, 
and  did  not  wane  under  reverses. 

Let  the  negroes  in  the  war-time  be  judged  in  the  calm 
retrospect  of  history.  Their  fidelity  meant  the  security  of 
the  families  on  every  lonely  plantation  from  Virginia  to 
Texas. 

Instead  of  the  horror  of  servile  insurrection,  women 
and  children  were  safe  in  their  homes,  supported  and  pro 
tected  by  their  servants.  It  was  their  labor  that  made  it 
possible  for  the  whole  white  population  to  take  the  field. 
It  was  their  fidelity  and  kindliness  that  kept  the  social  struc 
ture  sound,  even  though  pierced  and  plowed  by  the  sword. 
Their  conduct  was  a  practical  refutation  of  the  belief  that 
they  were  in  general  sufferers  from  inhuman  treatment.  It 
was  a  proof  that  slavery  had  included  better  influences  than 
its  opponents  had  recognized.  But  it  suggested,  too,  that 
a  people  capable  of  such  things  under  slavery  were  fully 
ready  for  an  upward  step,  and  might  be  trusted  with  free 
dom. 

They  gave  another  proof  of  fitness  for  freedom  when,  en 
listed  in  the  Union  armies,  they  showed  the  qualities  of 


264  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

good  soldiership.  They  accepted  discipline,  and  developed 
under  it.  They  were  brave  in  battle,  and  in  victory  they 
were  guiltless  of  excess.  It  was  a  wonderful  epoch  in  the 
race's  history, — the  transition  from  servitude  to  freedom, — 
and  in  that  ordeal,  first  as  slaves  and  then  as  soldiers,  they 
showed  themselves  worthy  of  the  deliverance  that  had  come 
at  last. 

As  soldiers,  they  found  leaders  in  the  flower  of  the  North. 
Such  was  Robert  Gould  Shaw,  of  the  best  blood  and  train 
ing  of  Massachusetts ;  a  son  of  Harvard ;  serving  from  the 
first  as  private  and  then  as  captain ;  called  by  Governor  An 
drew  in  1863  to  the  command  of  the  Fifty-fourth  Massa 
chusetts,  the  first  black  regiment  mustered  into  service; 
taking  a  place  which  risked  not  battle  peril  only  but  social 
obloquy ;  training  his  recruits  into  soldiers ;  leading  them  in 
a  hopeless  onset  against  the  batteries  of  Fort  Wagner;  fall 
ing  at  their  head ;  buried  in  a  ditch  with  his  men ;  honored 
in  an  immortal  sculpture  which  portrays  the  young,  high 
bred  hero  in  the  midst  of  the  humble,  faithful  men  for 
whom  he  gave  his  life. 

All  the  energies  of  the  North  were  at  the  highest  stretch. 
In  those  whose  hearts  were  in  the  strife,  at  home  or  in  the 
field,  there  was  a  great  glow  and  elation.  The  intensity  of 
the  time  communicated  itself  to  industry  and  trade.  There 
was  an  almost  feverish  activity ;  with  heavy  taxation  and  a 
fluctuating  currency — gold  was  long  at  a  premium  of  250— 
mills  and  markets  and  stores  were  in  full  tide  of  operation. 
The  North  matched  the  South  in  personal  courage  and  gen 
eralship;  and  greatly  outweighed  it  in  numbers,  material, 
and  in  the  productivity  engendered  in  a  free,  urban,  indus 
trial  society.  The  passion  of  the  war  touched  everything. 
The  churches  were  strongholds  of  the  national  cause.  The 
Sanitary  and  Christian  Commissions  kept  camp  and  home 
in  close  touch.  But  under  all  this  stir  was  the  tragedy  of 


Emancipation  Achieved  265 

Avide-spread  desolation  and  bereavement.  The  multitu 
dinous  slaughter  of  campaigns  like  the  Wilderness  had  an 
awful  background  of  woful  families. 

Arduous  achievement,  heroism  and  anguish,  suffering 
and  sacrifice  for  the  cause  of  the  nation  and  humanity — 
that  was  the  North's  story  in  those  years.  It  is  a  sublime 
story  as  we  look  back: 

The  glory  dies  not,  and  the  grief  is  past. 

Once  more  the  North  was  called  on  to  solemnly  decide, 
in  the  election  of  1864.  Against  Lincoln  was  nominated 
by  the  Democrats,  General  McClellan,  himself  a  stainless 
soldier  and  a  patriot,  but  supported  by  every  element  of 
hostility  to  emancipation,  of  sympathy  with  the  Southern 
cause,  and  of  impatience  with  the  long  and  burdensome 
struggle.  The  platform  called  for  an  immediate  armistice, 
to  be  followed  by  a  convention  of  the  States,  or  other 
peaceable  measures  for  the  restoration  of  the  Union.  Mc- 
Clellan's  letter  of  acceptance  ignored  the  platform,  and  de 
clared  strongly  for  the  persistent  maintenance  of  the  Union. 
The  result  of  the  election  was  a  majority  of  400,000  votes 
in  4,000,000  for  Lincoln,  every  State  supporting  him  save 
New  Jersey,  Kentucky,  and  Delaware. 

It  was  the  greatness  of  the  prize  at  stake  that  justified  the 
cost.  Lowell  sang  the  true  song  of  the  war,  when  the  end 
was  almost  reached,  in  the  poem  that  records  the  sore  loss 
to  his  own  family, — his  three  nephews,  "  likely  lads  as  well 
could  be," — slain  on  the  battle-field.  In  that  lofty,  mourn 
ful  verse,  there  is  no  drum  and  trumpet  clangor,  but  the 
high  purpose  whose  roots  are  watered  by  tears : 

Come,  Peace,  not  like  a  mourner  bowed 
For  honor  lost  an'  dear  ones  wasted, 

But  proud,  to  meet  a  people  proud, 

With  eyes  thet  tell  o'  triumph  tasted! 


266  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

Come,  with  han'  grippin'  on  the  hilt, 

An'  step  that  proves  ye  Victory's  daughter! 

Longin*  for  you,  our  sperits  wilt 

Like  shipwrecked  men's  on  raf's  for  water. 

Come,  while  our  country  feels  the  lift 

Of  a  gret  instinct  shoutia'  "  Forwards !  " 
An'  knows  thet  freedom  ain't  a  gift 

Thet  tarries  long  in  han's  o'  cowards! 
Come,  sech  ez  mothers  prayed  for,  when 

They  kissed  their  cross  with  lips  thet  quivered, 
An'  bring  fair  wages  for  brave  men, 

A  nation  saved,  a  race  delivered. 


With  Grant  and  Lee  locked  in  the  last  desperate  struggle 
at  Petersburg,  with  final  victory  almost  in  sight,  Lincoln 
spoke  his  second  inaugural, — too  grave  for  exultation,  with 
the  note  of  humility  and  faith.  He  is  awed  before  the 
course  of  events  since  he  stood  there  four  years  ago.  He 
feels  the  strangeness  of  both  combatants  appealing  to  the 
same  Bible  and  the  same  God.  For  himself  and  his  people 
he  utters  the  fond  hope,  the  fervent  prayer,  that  "  this 
awful  scourge  of  war  may  pass  away."  He  accepts  the  suf 
fering  as  the  penalty  of  the  nation — the  whole  nation — for 
the  sin  of  slavery.  Humbly,  resolutely,  he  faces  with  his 
people  the  final  effort,  the  sacred  duty :  "  With  malice  to 
ward  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firmness  in  the  right 
as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish 
the  work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds,  to  care 
for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle  and  for  his  widow 
and  his  orphan,  and  to  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish 
a  just  and  lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all 
nations." 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

RECONSTRUCTION:    EXPERIMENTS  AND 
IDEALS 

"Goo  uses  a  good  many  ugly  tools  to  dig  up  the  stumps 
and  burn  off  the  forests  and  drain  the  swamps  of  a  howling 
wilderness.  He  has  used  this  old  Egyptian  plow  of  slavery 
to  turn  over  the  sod  of  these  fifteen  Southern  States.  Its 
sin  consisted  in  not  dying  decently  when  its  work  was  done. 
It  strove  to  live  and  make  all  the  new  world  like  it.  Its 
leaders  avowed  that  their  object  was  to  put  this  belt  of  the 
continent  under  the  control  of  an  aristocracy  which  believes 
that  one-fifth  of  the  race  is  born  booted  and  spurred  and 
the  other  four-fifths  ready  for  that  fifth  to  ride.  The  war 
was  one  of  freedom  and  democracy  against  the  institutions 
that  rest  on  slaves.  It  will  take  ten  years  for  the  country 
to  shed  the  scar  of  such  a  struggle.  The  state  of  society 
at  the  South  that  produced  the  war  will  remain  and  trouble 
the  land  until  freedom  and  democracy  and  the  spirit  of  the 
nineteenth  century  takes  its  place.  Only  then  can  we  grap 
ple  the  Union  together  with  hooks  of  steel,  and  make  it  as 
lasting  as  the  granite  that  underlies  the  continent." 

These  were  the  brave  words  of  a  Southern  newspaper,  the 
Galveston  Bulletin,  in  January,  1867,  in  the  mid-throes  of 
reconstruction.  So  it  was  that  the  best  minds  of  the  re 
united  nation  foresaw  and  accepted  the  path  on  which  we 
still  are  slowly  mounting;  often  slipping,  stumbling,  fall 
ing,  but  still  getting  upward. 

When,  on  January  31,  1865,  the  vote  of  the  House  com- 

267 


268  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

pleted  the  ratification  by  Congress  of  the  Thirteenth  Amend 
ment,  abolishing  slavery,  a  burst  of  jubilant  cheering  swept 
the  whole  assembly,  and  a  wave  of  joy  went  through  the 
North.  Universal  freedom  seemed  close  at  hand.  Two 
months  more,  and  the  Confederate  capital  fell,  on  April  3, 
and  still  higher  rose  the  trimph.  Another  week,  and  the 
North  woke  at  midnight,  to  forget  sleep  and  rejoice  as  over 
the  final  consummation, — Lee  had  surrendered!  In  those 
days  it  seemed  to  ardent  souls  that  all  the  sacrifices  of  the 
past  four  years  were  repaid,  and  freedom  and  Union  were 
completely  won. 

But  real  freedom  of  men,  true  union  of  a  nation,  are  not 
achieved  by  votes  of  Congress  alone,  or  victories  of  the 

/       sword.     The  first  and  worst  was  over,  yet  the  work  was 
only  begun.    And  these  first  steps  had  been  by  a  rough  and 

N.    bitter  road,  of  which  the  next  stage  could  not  be  smooth  or 
\weet.     The   plow   of  slavery   had  been    followed  by   the 
harrow  of  war, — blossoms  and  fruitage  could  not  instantly 
follow. 

Lincoln  practically  made  his  own  the  motto  ascribed  to 
the  Jesuits,  "  The  goal  of  to-day,  the  starting-point  of  to 
morrow."  Even  before  to-day's  goal  was  reached,  his  eye 
was  measuring  the  next  stage.  While  his  patient  shoulders 
were  still  bowed  under  the  weight  of  war,  his  hands  were 
reaching  out  to  the  work  of  reconstruction.  In  December, 
1863,  a  year  after  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  he  issued 
another  proclamation.  In  this  he  offered  full  amnesty  to 
all  who  had  taken  arms  against  the  government,  on  con 
dition  simply  of  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitution,  and 
all  laws  and  proclamations  concerning  slavery  until  such 
were  legally  overruled.  From  this  amnesty  were  excepted 
those  who  had  held  diplomatic  or  high  military  offices  in 
the  Confederacy;  those  who  had  left  Congress  or  the  army 
or  navy  to  aid  the  Confederate  cause;  and  those  who  had 


Reconstruction:     Experiments  and  Ideals      269 

maltreated  fcegro  prisoners  of  war.  Whether  Lincoln  in  his 
own  mind  regarded  the  official  classes  as  more  blameworthy 
or  more  dangerous  than  their  followers,  we  can  only  sur 
mise;  but  he  doubtless  considered  that  public  opinion  was 
not  ripe — the  war  being  still  flagrant — for  a  wider  offer  of 
pardon. 

Further,  he  invited  a  return  of  the  seceded  States  to  their 
former  relations,  under  these  conditions :  Wherever  a  num 
ber  of  voters  equal  to  one-tenth  of  the  registered  list  of 
1860,  having  individually  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance,  shall 
unite  to  form  a  loyal  State  government,  their  organization 
will  be  recognized  by  the  Federal  government.  It  is  de 
sirable  to  retain  as  far  as  practicable  the  old  State  boun 
daries,  constitution,  and  laws.  §uch  a  State  government 
may  make  regulations  for  the  pegroes, — if  their  freedom 
and  education  are  provided  for, — as  a  "  laboring,  home 
less,  and  landless  class."  The  admission  of  representatives 
and  senators  must  depend  on  the  action  of  Congress. 

Under  this  plan — regarded  by  the  President  as  somewhat 
tentative  and  provisional,  and  expressly  made  dependent  on 
Congress  for  its  consummation  by  the  admission  of  senators 
and  representatives — within  the  next  twelve  months  gov 
ernments  were  established  in  three  States  where  the  Union 
arms  were  partly  in  the  ascendant,  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  and 
Tennessee.  Congress,  in  July,  1864,  passed  a  reconstruc 
tion  bill  on  more  radical  lines;  assuming  that  the  rebel 
States  were  by  their  own  act  extinguished  as  States  and 
were  to  be  created  de  novo;  directing  that  a  provisional 
governor  be  forthwith  appointed  for  every  such  State ;  re 
quiring  the  new  Legislatures  to  abolish  slavery,  exclude  high 
Confederate  officials  from  office,  and  annul  the  Confederate 
debt.  The  President  let  this  bill  fail  for  want  of  his  signa 
ture,  and  in  a  proclamation  explained  his  objections:  He 
was  not  ready  to  accept  the  "  State  suicide  "  theory ;  he  did 


270  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

not  want  to  rest  the  abolition  of  slavery  on  the  fiat  of  Con 
gress  (he  was  looking  for  the  adoption  of  the  Thirteenth 
Amendment)  ;  and  he  was  unwilling  to  sacrifice  the  pro 
visional  governments  already  set  up  in  Louisiana  and 
Arkansas.  If  in  any  other  State  a  movement  on  the  con 
gressional  plan  was  initiated,  that  might  do  well;  but  for 
any  hard-and-fast,  all-round  plan  the  time  was  not  ripe. 
The  radicals,  led  by  Wade  and  Henry  Winter  Davis,  chafed 
bitterly,  but  Lincoln  was  not  an  easy  man  to  fix  a  quarrel 
on. 

In  the  following  winter,  1864-5, tne  new  Louisiana  Legis 
lature,  recognized  and  encouraged  by  the  President,  elected 
two  senators  who  applied  at  Washington  for  admission. 
The  judiciary  committee,  headed  by  Lyman  Trumbull,  re 
ported  in  their  favor,  and  the  large  majority  of  the  Senate 
took  the  same  view.  But  Sumner  was  strongly  opposed 
to  beginning  the  readmission  of  the  rebel  States  to  congres 
sional  power  until  the  rights  of  the  freedmen  were  fully  and 
finally  established.  Aided  by  two  other  radicals,  Wade  of 
Ohio  and  Zachariah  Chandler  of  Michigan,  he  "  talked 
against  time,"  and  defeated  action  until  the  end  of  the 
session.  Under  senatorial  usage  it  was  legitimate — but  it 
was  exasperating.  The  little  world  of  Washington,  always 
greatly  given  to  tempests  in  a  teapot,  looked  for  a  break 
between  the  President  and  the  foremost  man  of  his  sup 
porters.  What  it  saw  instead  was,  at  the  inauguration  ball, 
Mr.  Sumner  entering  in  company  with  the  President  and 
with  Mrs.  Lincoln  on  his  arm !  No,  Lincoln  was  not  going 
to  quarrel  with  Sumner — nor  with  any  one,  if  it  lay  with 
him. 

Richmond  was  taken,  and  through  its  streets  moved  the 
gaunt  form  of  the  President,  his  eyes  taking  grave,  kind 
note  of  all.  Back  to  Washington,  and  the  supreme  word 
comes  at  last.  Lee  has  surrendered,  the  war  is  over,  the 


Reconstruction:     Experiments  and  Ideals     271 

victory  won !  A  cheering,  exultant  crowd  beset  the  White 
House.  Lincoln  came  out  on  the  balcony,  said  a  word  of 
response,  and  invited  them  to  come  back  two  days  later  for 
a  fuller  word.  When  they  came  again,  he  talked  to  them 
and  to  the  country.  His  whole  theme  was,  What  is  our 
next  duty  ?  Here  is  the  next  step,  the  first  of  the  "  erring 
sisters  "  to  return  is  to  be  welcomed  back.  Louisiana  has 
adopted  a  constitution  abolishing  slavery,  establishing  pub 
lic  schools  for  black  and  white  alike,  and  allowing  the 
Legislature  at  its  discretion  to  extend  suffrage  to  the  blacks. 
Under  this  constitution  12,000  voters  have  been  enrolled. 
The  Legislature  has  met  and  ratified  the  Thirteenth  Amend 
ment.  Can  we  do  better  than  to  accept  and  restore  them 
to  the  full  privileges  of  statehood?  For  them  would  it  not 
also  be  wise  to  extend  the  suffrage  to  the  most  intelligent 
negroes,  and  to  those  who  have  served  in  the  Union  army? 
As  to  all  the  seceded  States,  the  question  whether  they  have 
ever  been  out  of  the  Union  is  "  a  merely  pernicious  ab 
straction."  The  real  question  is,  how  to  get  them  again 
into  proper  practical  relations  with  the  Union.  "  Concede 
that  the  new  government  of  Louisiana  is  to  what  it  should 
be  only  as  the  egg  is  to  the  fowl,  we  shall  sooner  have 
the  fowl  by  hatching  the  egg  than  by  smashing  it."  Let 
us  be  flexible  as  to  our  methods,  inflexible  as  to  vital  prin 
ciples. 

These  were  his  last  words  to  his  countrymen.  Three 
days  later,  April  14,  as  he  sat  in  Ford's  theatre, — the  strain 
of  responsibility  lightened  by  an  hour  of  kindly  amusement 
• — there  fell  on  him,  from  an  assassin's  hand,  the  stroke  of 
unconsciousness  and  speedy  death.  For  himself,  how  could 
he  have  died  better !  At  the  summit  of  achievement,  hailed 
by  the  world's  acclaim,  in  the  prime  of  manly  strength, 
unweakened  by  decay,  unshadowed  by  fear ;  a  life  of  heroic 
service  crowned  by  a  martyr's  death;  a  place  won  in  the 


272  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

nation's  heart  of  such  love  and  gratitude  as  has  been  given 
to  no  other, — how  better  could  he  have  died? 

But  never  was  heavier  bereavement  than  his  death 
brought  to  the  American  people.  It  was  not  sorrow  only, 
but  lasting  loss,  beyond  estimation  and  beyond  repair.  We 
know  not  how  in  the  sum  of  things  all  seeming  evil  may 
find  place,  but  to  human  eyes  seldom  was  man  taken  who 
could  so  ill  be  spared.  By  nature  and  capacity  he  was  above 
all  else  a  peace-maker.  Called  to  be  captain  in  a  great  war, 
his  largest  contribution  to  its  success  had  been  in  holding 
united  to  the  common  purpose  men  most  widely  varying 
among  themselves.  He  said,  toward  the  end,  that  he  did 
not  know  that  he  had  done  better  than  any  one  else  could, 
except  perhaps  at  one  point, — he  did  think  he  had  been 
pretty  successful  in  keeping  the  North  united.  And  while 
he  did  this,  while  he  kept  radicals  and  conservatives,  Aboli 
tionists  and  Unionists,  New  Englanders  and  Kentuckians, 
loyal  to  the  common  cause,  he  also  shaped  that  cause  to 
ward  the  highest  aims  that  his  various  constituency  would 
admit.  He  could  not  bring  them  to  his  own  highest 
thought, — they  would  not  be  persuaded  to  try  compensated 
emancipation  and  peaceful  reunion  instead  of  war  to  the 
extremity.  But  he  did  lift  a  war  for  the  Union  to  a  war 
for  freedom  also,  and  so  direct  it  that  from  the  strife 
should  emerge  not  the  old,  but  a  nobler  nation.  And  now, 
the  harder  half  was  to  be  done !  Instead  of  generalship, 
statesmanship ;  instead  of  animal  courage,  justice  and  kind 
ness  toward  former  foes;  instead  of  holding  the  North  to 
gether,  to  bring  North  and  South  together;  that  was  the 
gigantic  task  now  to  be  wrought.  Who  so  fit  for  it  as  he  ? 
And  for  want  of  him,  grievous  and  slow  has  been  the 
journey. 

From  the  first  thrill  of  passionate  grief,  men  turned  to 
ask  anxiously  what  the  new  President  was  to  be.  He  had 


Reconstruction:     Experiments  and  Ideals     273 

been  selected  with  that  carelessness  as  to  the  Vice-Presi 
dency  which  is  a  tradition  of  American  politics.  Had  the 
convention  which  renominated  Lincoln  chosen  with  care 
the  man  best  fitted  to  aid  or  possibly  succeed  him  in  his 
work — had  they  for  instance  chosen  John  A.  Andrew  of 
Massachusetts — history  might  have  been  very  different. 
But  they  took  Andrew  Johnson  of  Tennessee,  with  little 
scrutiny  of  his  qualities,  but  desiring  to  broaden  their  ticket 
by  including  a  Southern  Unionist.  Johnson  had  been  bred 
as  a  tailor,  with  only  the  meagerest  schooling,  with  no 
training  in  the  law,  going  straight  from  his  trade  into 
politics,  and  by  native  force  rising  to  the  senatorship.  He 
was  regarded,  and  rightly,  as  a  man  of  honesty,  patriotism, 
courage,  and  rough  energy.  He  had  been  conspicuous  in 
denouncing  the  seceders  with  the  heat  of  a  border-State 
Unionist,  and  something  of  the  uncontrolled  temper  of  the 
"  poor  white."  "  Treason  must  be  made  odious,"  had  been 
his  cry,  "  traitors  must  be  punished."  In  that  war-heated 
time,  there  were  good  men  who  thought  they  read  the  pur 
pose  of  the  Almighty  in  removing  the  too  kindly  Lincoln, 
that  the  guilty  rebels  might  be  more  severely  scourged. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

RECONSTRUCTION:   THE  FIRST  PLAN 

THE  new  President  gave  at  once  the  best  possible  reassur 
ance  as  to  his  general  course  by  retaining  all  the  members 
of  Lincoln's  Cabinet.  They  remained,  not  as  a  temporary 
formality,  but  for  a  considerable  time  in  full  harmony  with 
the  President.  Chase  having  left  the  Cabinet  for  the  chief- 
justiceship,  by  far  the  two  strongest  secretaries  remaining 
were  Seward  and  Stanton.  Seward  had  been  struck  down 
at  the  same  time  with  Lincoln,  and  dangerously  wounded, 
but  after  a  few  weeks  was  able  to  resume  his  duties.  Thus 
the  two  foremost  men,  after  Lincoln,  of  the  Republican 
party,  Sumner  and  Seward,  had  been  murderously  assaulted, 
yet  neither  of  them  was  embittered  or  altered  in  his  course. 
Seward  probably  had  great  influence  on  President  John 
son's  early  measures.  The  degree  of  that  influence  is  a 
disputed  point  among  historians,  but  the  internal  evidence 
points  strongly  to  his  having  had  a  large  share  in  the  Presi 
dent's  original  plans,  and  materially  aided  their  execution, 
though  Johnson's  strong  will  and  hot  temper  marred  and 
thwarted  Seward's  efforts.  One  of  the  secretary's  special 
powers  was  a  genial  and  persuasive  skill  in  conversation; 
his  historic  place  as  the  Republican  premier  gave  him  in 
fluence  with  the  President;  he  had  been  in  full  sympathy 
with  Lincoln's  late  course;  and  his  constitutional  theories 
and  his  optimism  appear  in  the  reconstruction  scheme  which 
the  President  soon  proposed.  Responsibility  had  steadied 
and  sobered  Johnson;  his  vindictiveness  toward  the  South 
had  disappeared, — one  guesses  with  Seward's  aid;  and  his 

274 


Reconstruction:     The  First  Plan        275 

plan  looked  to  a  prompt  and  early  return  of  the  seceded 
States. 

His  proclamation  of  amnesty,  indeed,  issued  May  29,  was 
more  numerous  in  its  exceptions  than  Lincoln's;  including 
almost  the  entire  official  class  throughout  the  South,  and 
adding  all  such  as  held  property  in  excess  of  $20,000, — 
which  in  theory  was  little  other  than  an  attempt  to  behead 
the  political  community  of  all  its  intelligent  or  wealthy 
members.  But  the  added  clause  providing  for  a  pardon  of 
such  by  the  President  on  special  application  proved  in  prac 
tice  more  significant  than  the  formal  exemptions.  Scarcely 
an  application  for  amnesty  was  refused,  and  it  is  recorded 
that  in  less  than  a  twelvemonth  14,000  such  applications 
were  made  and  granted. 

On  the  same  day,  May  29,  President  Johnson  by  procla 
mation  appointed  a  provisional  governor  of  North  Carolina, 
and  ordered  an  election  of  delegates  to  a  constitutional  con 
vention.  By  July  13,  he  had  issued  similar  proclamations 
for  Mississippi,  Georgia,  Alabama,  South  Carolina  and 
Florida.  Texas's  turn  came  a  little  later,  the  last  embers 
of  the  war  lingering  there  for  a  while.  In  Virginia,  the 
President  had  recognized  a  shadowy  loyal  State  government 
which  had  kept  up  a  nominal  existence.  The  three  other 
seceded  States, — Louisiana,  Arkansas  and  Tennessee, — had 
already  the  State  governments  established  under  Lincoln, 
though  unrepresented  in  Congress. 

These  overtures  for  formal  reconstruction  came  to  com 
munities  impoverished,  forlorn,  and  chaotic,  almost  beyond 
imagination.  Property,  industry,  social  order,  had  been 
torn  up  by  the  plowshare  of  war.  The  prolongation  of  re 
sistance  until  defeat  was  complete  and  overwhelming  had 
ended  all  power  and  all  wish  to  contend  with  the  inevitable. 
The  people,  groping  back  toward  even  a  bare  livelihood, — 
toward  some  settled  order,  some  way  of  public  and  private 


276  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

life, — met  eagerly  the  advances  of  the  President.  Con 
stitutional  conventions  were  elected  and  met,  within  the 
remaining  months  of  1865 ;  they  were  chosen  on  the  old 
basis  of  suffrage,  conditioned  by  the  exceptions  to  amnesty 
and  by  the  oaths  of  allegiance ;  these  conventions  based  the 
new  constitutions  largely  on  the  old ;  they  affirmed  the  ordi 
nances  of  secession  to  be  null  and  void ;  they  repudiated  the 
Confederate  debt,  and  they  declared  that  slavery  no  longer 
existed.  Legislatures  were  duly  elected,  and  proceeded  to 
enact  laws.  They  all  ratified  the  Thirteenth  Amendment, 
though  Mississippi  and  Alabama  affixed  some  qualifications 
to  their  assent,  while  Texas  was  still  unreconstructed  and 
could  not  act ;  and  Kentucky  and  Delaware  gave  a  negative. 
The  President  and  Secretary  of  State,  December  18,  de 
clared  the  adoption  of  the  amendment  by  the  vote  of  31 
States  out  of  36.  Slavery  was  finally  and  forever  abolished. 

President  Johnson  used  his  influence  to  have  the  new 
constitutions  open  the  door  to  a  qualified  negro  suffrage. 
He  telegraphed  to  the  Mississippi  convention,  urging  that 
the  suffrage  be  extended  to  all  negroes  who  could  read  and 
write,  or  who  possessed  $250  worth  of  real  estate.  Well 
would  it  have  been  if  that  appeal  had  been  heeded. 

Thus  far,  reconstruction  had  moved  with  singular  swift 
ness  and  ease.  Too  swift  and  easy  was  the  recovery  to  be 
trusted — so  thought  some — where  the  disease  had  been  so 
desperate.  But  the  Cabinet,  including  the  grim  and  jealous 
Stanton,  held  with  the  President.  More,  the  autumn  Re 
publican  conventions  throughout  the  North  passed  resolu 
tions  cordially  approving  the  President's  course  and  its 
results — all,  with  the  ominous  exceptions  of  Pennsylvania 
and  Massachusetts,  controlled  respectively  by  Thaddeus 
Stevens  and  Sumner,  the  leader  of  the.  House  and  the  fore 
most  man  in  the  Senate. 

Thus  was  initiated  and  begun  tl$e  first  of  the  thret  sue- 


Reconstruction:     The  First  Plan        277 

cessive  plans  of  reconstruction.  Before  seeing  its  fate,  it 
is  opportune  to  consider  the  general  ideal  of  the  situation, 
as  presented  by  two  of  the  greatest  men  of  the  North,  the 
two,  we  may  say,  who  best  comprehended  the  whole  case; 
the  one  standing  in  the  Church  and  the  other  in  the  State, 
but  alike  in  breadth  of  mind  and  loftiness  of  spirit — Henry 
Ward  Beecher  and  John  A.  Andrew. 

During  the  war,  the  Northern  churches  had  been  centers 
of  inspiration  to  the  national  cause,  and  Plymouth  church 
among  the  foremost.  Beecher  had  made  a  series  of  speeches 
in  England  in  1862,  which  did  much  to  turn  the  tide  of 
English  opinion.  The  disclaimers  by  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  of  a  crusade  against  slavery  had  perplexed  and  divided 
the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  Great  Britain;  the  issues  at 
stake  were  little  understood;  the  stoppage  of  the  cotton 
supply  aroused  a  commercial  opposition  to  the  war;  there 
was  some  degree  of  aristocratic  sympathy  with  the  Southern 
oligarchy;  and  a  wider  sympathy  with  the  weaker  of  the 
two  combatants  that  was  fighting  pluckily  against  odds. 
The  North  had  few  strong  friends,  except  a  group  of  radical 
leaders — Mill,  Bright,  Cobden  and  their  allies, — and  a  host 
of  working  people,  including  even  the  suffering  cotton 
operatives,  who  instinctively  recognized  and  supported  the 
cause  of  the  common  people.  Beecher's  eloquent  and  lucid 
orations  went  far  to  convince  that  the  Union  cause  was  the 
cause  of  liberty;  and  no  less  effect  was  produced  by  the 
splendid  courage  and  self-possession  with  which  he  faced 
and  mastered  one  audience  after  another  where  the  mob 
tried  to  howl  him  down.  After  the  close  of  the  war,  when 
a  company  went  down  to  raise  the  Stars  and  Stripes  once 
more  over  Fort  Sumter,  Beecher  was  the  chosen  orator, 
and  his  speech  was  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  fraternity  and 
reconciliation.  In  a  sermon  in  his  church,  October  29, 
1865,  he  outlined  with  a  master's  hand  the  principles  of  re- 


278  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

construction.  The  South  should  be  restored  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment  to  a  share  in  the  general  government. 
Idle  to  ask  them  to  repent  of  secession;  enough  if  they 
recognize  that  it  is  forever  disallowed.  The  best  guarantee 
for  the  future  is  the  utter  destruction  of  slavery.  Let  there 
be  no  further  humbling :  "  I  think  it  to  be  the  great  need  of 
this  nation  to  save  the  self-respect  of  the  South."  What 
then  are  the  necessary  conditions  of  reconstruction?  The 
Southern  States  should  accede  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  by 
the  Constitution.  They  should  establish  the  freedman's 
"  right  to  labor  as  he  pleases,  where  he  pleases,  and  for 
whom  he  pleases,"  with  full  control  of  his  own  earnings; 
he  should  be  the  equal  of  all  men  before  the  courts.  What 
about  suffrage?  It  is  the  natural  right  of  all  men,  says 
Beecher;  but,  tempering  as  usual  his  intellectual  radicalism 
with  practical  conservatism,  he  goes  on:  It  will  be  useless 
to  enforce  negro  suffrage  on  the  South  against  the  opposi 
tion  of  the  whites.  As  to  the  general  treatment  of  the 
freedmen,  "  the  best  intentions  of  the  government  will  be 
defeated,  if  the  laws  that  are  made  touching  this  matter  are 
such  as  are  calculated  to  excite  the  animosity  and  hatred  of 
the  white  people  in  the  South  toward  the  black  people  there. 
I  except  the  single  decree  of  emancipation.  That  must 
stand,  though  men  dislike  it."  But  beyond  that,  all  meas 
ures  instituted  under  the  act  of  emancipation  for  the  blacks 
in  order  to  be  permanently  useful  must  have  the  cordial 
consent  of  the  wise  and  good  citizens  of  the  South.  "  These 
men  (the  negroes)  are  scattered  in  fifteen  States;  they  are 
living  contiguous  to  their  old  masters ;  the  kindness  of  the 
white  man  in  the  South  is  more  important  to  them  than  all 
the  policies  of  the  nation  put  together."  As  to  suffrage, 
whatever  the  colored  man's  theoretical  right,  "  you  will 
never  be  able  to  secure  it  and  maintain  it  for  him,  except 
by  making  him  so  intelligent  that  men  cannot  deny  it  to 


Reconstruction:     The  First  Plan        279 

him.  You  cannot  long,  in  this  country,  deny  to  a  man  any 
civil  right  for  which  he  is  manifestly  qualified."  It  will  be 
a  sufficient  beginning  if  the  vote  is  given  to  such  as  can 
read  and  write  and  have  acquired  a  certain  amount  of 
property.  As  a  beginning,  a  stepping-stone  to  larger  things, 
it  might  suffice  even  to  give  the  suffrage  to  black  men  who 
have  borne  arms  for  the  Union.  And,  emphatically,  the 
negroes  should  be  given  such  education  as  will  make  them 
worthy  of  citizenship.  "  You  may  pass  laws  declaring  that 
black  men  are  men,  and  that  they  are  our  equals  in  social 
position;  but  unless  you  can  make  them  thoughtful,  indus 
trious,  self-respecting,  and  intelligent;  unless,  in  short,  you 
can  make  them  what  you  say  they  have  a  right  to  be,  those 
laws  will  be  in  vain."  The  work  of  education  should  be 
done  for  black  and  white  alike ;  the  South  is  not  to  be  treated 
as  a  pagan  land  to  which  missionaries  are  to  be  sent,  but  as 
part  of  our  common  country,  to  which  the  richer  and  more 
prosperous  section  ought  to  give  aid.  "  I  do  not  think  it 
would  be  wise  for  the  North  to  pour  ministers,  colporteurs 
and  schoolmasters  into  the  South,  making  a  too  marked 
distinction  between  the  black  people  and  the  white.  We 
ought  to  carry  the  gospel  and  education  to  the  whites  and 
blacks  alike.  Our  heart  should  be  set  toward  our  country 
and  all  its  people,  without  distinction  of  caste,  class,  or 
color." 

Governor  Andrew  had  been  the  fit  leader  of  Massachu 
setts  through  the  war  period.  He  was  strong  as  an  ad 
ministrator;  he  inspired  and  voiced  the  patriotism  of  the 
people;  he  supported  the  forward  policy  without  harassing 
the  President;  and  he  was  the  first  governor  to  organize 
negro  troops.  Now,  on  his  retirement  to  private  life,  he 
gave  a  valedictory  address,  January  4,  1866,  which  was 
a  worthy  sequel  to  his  inaugural  of  five  years  before.  He 
specially  emphasized  the  need  of  a  generous  and  inclusive 


280  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

policy  toward  the  Southern  people  and  their  recent  leaders. 
"  I  am  confident  we  cannot  reorganize  political  society  with 
any  security:  I.  Unless  we  let  in  the  people  to  a  co-opera 
tion,  and  not  merely  an  arbitrarily  selected  portion  of  them. 
2.  Unless  we  give  those  who  are  by  intelligence  and  charac 
ter  the  natural  leaders  of  the  people,  and  who  surely  will 
lead  them  by-and-by,  an  opportunity  to  lead  them  now. 
.  .  .  The  truth  is,  the  public  opinion  of  the  white  race 
in  the  South  was  in  favor  of  the  rebellion."  The  loyalists 
were  not  in  general  the  strongest  minds  and  characters, 
and  when  the  revolution  came  they  were  swept  off  their  feet. 
For  present  purposes,  there  should  be  no  discrimination. 
"  The  capacity  of  leadership  is  a  gift,  not  a  device.  They 
whose  courage,  talents,  and  will,  entitle  them  to  lead,  will 
lead.  .  .  .  Why  not  try  them?  They  are  the  most 
hopeful  subjects  to  deal  with  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case. 
They  have  the  brain  and  experience  and  the  education  to 
enable  them  to  understand  the  exigences  of  the  present 
situation." 

The  ideals  thus  presented  by  Beecher  and  Andrew, — as 
practical,  we  see  now  after  forty  years,  as  they  were  lofty, 
— were  at  the  time  somewhat  like  what  Catholic  theologians 
call  "  counsels  of  perfection " — precepts  of  conduct  too 
high  to  be  practiced  except  by  the  saintly.  They  fell  on  the 
ears  of  a  people  whose  two  sections  had  long  been  strug 
gling  in  deadly  opposition,  and  who  still  surveyed  each  other 
through  eyes  inflamed  by  the  bitter  struggle.  Could  it  be 
hoped  that  the  North  would  invite  co-operation  as  of  fel 
low-patriots  from  those  whom  they  had  been  denouncing 
as  arch-traitors  ?  And  was  it  to  be  expected  that  the  South, 
which  had  seceded  and  battled  on  the  ground  that  the 
negro  was  fit  only  for  slavery,  should  at  once  begin  heartily 
and  practically  to  establish  and  elevate  him  as  a  freeman? 


CHAPTER  XXX 

CONGRESS  AND  THE  "BLACK  CODES" 

CONGRESS  assembled  at  the  beginning  of  December,  1865, 
and  at  the  very  outset  declared  that  the  work  of  recon 
struction  must  pass  under  its  hands.  Before  the  President's 
message  was  read,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  the  leader  of  the 
House,  moved  that  a  joint  committee  of  fifteen  on  recon 
struction,  be  appointed  by  the  House  and  Senate ;  and  that 
until  that  committee  had  reported  no  senator  or  representa 
tive  from  the  lately  seceded  States  should  be  admitted.  This 
action  was  taken  at  once,  by  a  large  majority  in  both  houses, 
and  the  committee  was  promptly  appointed,  with  Senator 
Fessenden  at  its  head.  Then  the  President's  message  was 
read, — a  very  able  paper,  broad  and  statesmanlike  in  tone, 
recounting  the  President's  action  and  the  choice  of  con 
ventions  and  Legislatures  in  the  seceded  States;  their  repu 
diation  of  secession  and  slavery;  the  inauguration  of  loyal 
State  governments ; — this,  with  an  invitation  to  Congress 
to  accept  and  co-operate  in  this  policy,  and  a  hopeful  view 
of  the  general  situation.  The  message  was  favorably  re 
ceived,  and  for  a  moment  it  looked  as  if  the  President  and 
Congress  might  work  in  harmony. 

But  the  claim  of  Congress  to  a  paramount  voice  in  the 
settlement  was  well  based,  not  only  in  constitutional  theory, 
but  in  the  immediate  facts.  Congress  came  fresh  from  the 
people;  its  members  knew  how  the  currents  of  popular 
thought  and  feeling  ran.  The  President  was  comparatively 
out  of  touch  with  the  nation ;  he  had,  so  to  speak,  no  per 
sonal  constituency;  he  was  a  Southern  loyalist,  apart  from 

281 


282  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  mass  of  both  South  and  North.  Further,  this  Congress 
was  personally  a  strong  body  of  men.  They  represented 
in  an  unusual  degree  not  merely  the  average  sentiment  but 
the  better  sentiment  of  the  North.  To  glance  at  a  few  of 
their  leaders :  Thaddeus  Stevens  was  a  Pennsylvanian,  a 
leader  at  the  bar,  active  in  anti-slavery  politics,  conspicuous 
by  his  successful  defense  of  the  State's  public  school  system ; 
a  man  of  strong  convictions  and  strong  passions,  a  natural 
fighter ;  skillful  in  parliamentary  management ;  vigorous  and 
often  bitter  in  debate;  not  scrupulous  in  political  methods; 
loyal  to  his  cause  and  his  friends,  and  vindictive  to  his 
enemies;  an  efficient  party  leader,  but  in  no  high  sense  a 
statesman.  Up  to  his  death  in  1868  he  exercised  such  a 
mastery  over  the  Republican  majority  in  the  House  as  no 
man  since  has  approached.  He  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as 
if  he  had  been  the  ruling  spirit  in  reconstruction,  but  this 
seems  a  mistake.  He  was  a  leader  in  it,  so  far  as  his  con 
victions  coincided  with  the  strong  popular  current;  but 
his  favorite  ideas  were  often  set  aside.  He  was  an  early 
advocate  of  a  wide  confiscation,  but  that  policy  found  no 
support;  and  at  the  crucial  points  of  the  reconstruction 
proceedings  he  was  often  thwarted  and  superseded  by  more 
moderate  men. 

Charles  Sumner  was  a  high-minded  idealist  and  a  scholar, 
devoted  to  noble  ends,  but  not  well  versed  in  human  nature. 
He  was  a  lover  of  Man,  but  with  men  he  was  not  much 
acquainted.  His  oratory  was  elaborate  and  ornate,  and  he 
unduly  estimated  the  power  of  words.  Sometimes,  says 
Senator  Hoar,  he  seemed  to  think  the  war  was  to  be  settled 
by  speech-making,  and  was  impatient  of  its  battles  as  an 
interruption — like  a  fire-engine  rumbling  past  while  he  was 
orating.  But  he  had  large  influence,  partly  from  his 
thoroughly  disinterested  character,  and  partly  because 
beyond  any  other  man  in  public  life  lie  represented  the  ele- 


Congress  and  the  "  Black  Codes"        283 

ments  of  moral  enthusiasm  among  the  people.  His  counter 
part  was  Henry  Wilson,  his  colleague  in  the  Senate.  Wilson 
had  risen  from  the  shoe-maker's  bench,  and  knew  the  com 
mon  people  as  a  cobbler  knows  his  tools.  He  was  genial 
in  temperament ;  public-spirited  and  generous  in  his  aims ; 
a  most  skilful  tactician,  and  not  over-scrupulous.  He  joined 
the  Know-nothings,  with  no  sympathy  for  their  prescriptive 
creed,  but  in  the  break-up  of  parties  using  them  for  the 
anti-slavery  cause, — and  to  secure  his  own  election,  to  the 
United  States  Senate.  He  was  a  good  fighter,  but  without 
rancor;  and  he  was  an  admirable  interpreter  of  the  real 
democracy.  Senator  Hoar,  in  his  autobiography,  graphically 
describes  how  at  some  crisis  Wilson  would  travel  swiftly 
over  the  State,  from  Boston  to  Berkshire,  visit  forty  shops 
and  factories  in  a  day,  talk  with  politicians  all  night,  study 
the  main  currents  and  the  local  eddies ;  and  after  a  week  or 
two  of  this — seeming  meanwhile  to  be  backing  and  filling 
in  his  own  mind — would  "  strike  a  blow  which  had  in  it 
not  only  the  vigor  of  his  own  arm,  but  the  whole  vigor 
and  strength  of  the  public  sentiment  which  he  had  gathered 
and  which  he  represented." 

Prominent  in  the  Senate  was  "bluff  Ben  Wade"  of 
Ohio,  an  old-time  anti-slavery  man,  radical,  vigorous,  a 
stout  friend  and  foe.  Another  conspicuous  radical  was 
Zachariah  Chandler  of  Michigan.  He  was  born  in  New 
Hampshire,  went  West  early  in  life,  and  was  a  chief 
organizer  and  leader  of  the  Republican  party  in  Michigan. 
He  was  a  mixture  of  Yankee  shrewdness  and  Western 
energy ;  patriotic,  masterful,  somewhat  coarse-grained  and 
materialistic ;  and,  like  many  of  his  associates,  better  suited 
for  controversy  and  war  than  for  conciliation  and  construc 
tion.  Of  a  higher  type  were  three  men  who  stood  near  the 
head  in  the  Senate, — John  Sherman  of  Ohio,  Lyman  Trum- 
bull  of  Illinois,  and  William  P.  Fessenden  of  Maine.  In  the 


284  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

qualities  for  solid  work,  few  men  of  his  time  surpassed 
Sherman.  He  was  wise  in  framing  legislation,  and  a 
good  administrator, — an  upright,  moderate,  serviceable  man. 
Trumbull,  of  Connecticut  birth,  was  well  trained  in  the  law 
and  eminent  as  a  constitutional  lawyer.  He  made  his  serious 
entrance  into  public  life  along  with  Lincoln,  and  was  his 
near  friend  and  adviser.  He  was  an  able  though  not  a 
brilliant  debater;  a  man  of  independent  convictions  and 
thorough  courage.  Fessenden,  like  Trumbull,  was  entitled 
to  rank  as  a  real  statesman.  Like  Trumbull  he  had  no 
popular  arts,  and  where  Trumbull  was  reticent  and  with 
drawn  in  manner,  Fessenden  was  austere  and  sometimes 
irascible.  In  private  character  both  were  above  reproach. 
Fessenden  had  a  finely-trained  and  richly-equipped  mind. 
In  an  emergency,  after  Chase's  retirement,  he  accepted  the 
secretaryship  of  an  almost  bankrupt  treasury,  and  handled 
it  well.  His  devotion  to  duty  was  unreserved;  he  was  an 
admirable  debater;  and  he  had  the  high  power  of  framing 
legislation.  His  was  the  most  important  work  of  the  recon 
struction  committee,  and  Trumbull,  as  chairman  of  the 
judiciary  committee,  had  a  chief  hand  in  the  other  leading 
measures.  The  Democrats  were  few  and  not  strong  in 
leadership ;  their  ablest  man  was  Reverdy  Johnson  of  Mary 
land, — highly  educated  and  large-minded.  With  these  were 
other  senators  of  repute;  and  in  the  House  there  were 
abundant  men  of  mark, — Colfax,  Elaine,  Banks,  Boutwell, 
Dawes,  Conkling,  Henry  J.  Raymond,  Randall,  Hayes, 
Garfield,  Bingham,  Shellabarger,  Voorhees,  Elihu  B.  Wash- 
burn  ; — space  is  wanting  to  name  others,  or  to  individually 
characterize  these. 

In  estimating  the  work  of  reconstruction  we  must  take 
account  of  the  character  of  the  men  who  shaped  it.  Taking 
these  leaders  as  a  body,  they  fall  into  groups, — Sumner  for 
the  uncompromising  idealists;  the  radicals  by  temperament, 


Congress  and  the  "  Black  Codes"        285 

like  Stevens,  Wade,  and  Chandler ;  the  men  of  higher  train 
ing,  minds  of  the  statesman's  type,  and  a  certain  austerity 
of  temper,  such  as  Fessenden,  Trumbull,  and  Sherman. 
Among  them  all  there  was  a  deficiency  of  that  blending  of 
large  view,  close  insight,  and  genial  humanity,  which 
marked  Lincoln.  Small  discredit  to  them  that  they  were  not 
his  peers, — but  the  work  in  hand  demanded  just  such  a 
combination. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  all  of  these,  like  the  mass 
of  the  Northern  people,  had  been  for  many  years  contend 
ing  with  all  their  might  for  certain  ends,  and  in  keenest 
hostility  to  the  Southern  whites.  They  had  fought  for  the 
Union  and  freedom;  the  South  had  fought  for  the  Con 
federacy  and  slavery.  By  sheer  overpowering  physical 
force  the  Southern  armies  had  been  beaten  down,  and  peace 
restored,  and  in  name  at  least  the  national  authority  re-estab 
lished.  But  by  conviction,  habit,  instinct,  these  opponents 
yet  hot  from  the  battle-field  would  scrutinize  with  jealous 
care  the  real  success  of  their  principles  and  the  disposition 
of  their  late  foes. 

The  President's  policy,  as  laid  down  in  his  message,  was 
at  once  challenged  in  Congress.  Stevens  opened  the  debate 
in  the  House,  and,  without  directly  assailing  the  President, 
antagonized  his  theory  that  the  States,  like  the  Union,  were 
indestructible,  that  secession  had  only  temporarily  suspended 
their  relation,  and  that  they  now  by  right  recurred  at  once 
to  their  normal  position.  Against  this  Stevens  maintained 
that  by  their  rebellion  these  States  had,  as  organizations, 
committed  suicide,  that  they  now  were  in  the  position  of 
conquered  territory,  and  that  out  of  this  territory  Congress 
was  to  create  new  States  on  whatever  terms  it  judged  most 
expedient.  The  President's  theory  found  an  able  supporter 
in  Henry  J.  Raymond,  who  had  just  exchanged  the  editor 
ship  of  the  New  York  Times  for  a  seat  in  Congress.  But 


286  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

he  had  only  a  single  ally  among  his  Republican  colleagues, 
and  the  lonely  couple,  with  four  Republican  senators,  proved 
to  be  the  only  habitual  supporters  of  the  President  in  the 
party  that  had  elected  him.  But  the  Democrats  came  to 
his  side  with  an  alacrity  that  strengthened  the  Republican 
opposition.  Their  party  had  as  a  whole  leaned  toward  the 
South  during  the  war,  and  they  now  welcomed  the  easy 
terms  held  out  by  the  President  to  their  old  associates.  The 
Republican  doctrine  was  best  formulated  by  Shellabarger 
of  Ohio,  who,  without  going  to  the  full  length  of  Stevens's 
theory,  maintained  the  essential  right  of  Congress  to  lay 
down  the  conditions  on  which  the  seceded  States  could 
resume  their  old  relation  with  the  Federal  Government.  That 
seemed  the  just  and  inevitable  logic  of  the  situation ;  and  it 
was  expressed  in  as  much  conformity  with  the  Constitution 
as  was  practicable  after  the  rude  jostle  of  a  four  years' 
war. 

Meantime,  Republican  leaders  in  the  Senate — Sumner, 
Wilson  and  Fessenden — were  announcing  the  same  doctrine, 
and  were  earnestly  declaring  that  the  actual  conditions  of 
the  South  called  for  stronger  remedies  than  the  President 
had  provided.  A  joint  resolution  brought  before  Congress 
a  report  which  had  been  made  to  the  President  by  Carl 
Schurz,  after  a  tour  of  several  months  for  which  he  had 
been  specially  commissioned.  With  this  report,  the  Pres 
ident  sent  also  one  from  General  Grant,  whom  he  had  asked, 
during  an  official  trip  of  a  few  days,  to  observe  the  general 
disposition  and  temper  of  the  Southern  people.  Grant  stated 
his  conclusion  to  be  that  "  the  mass  of  thinking  men  of  the 
South  accept  the  present  situation  of  affairs  in  good  faith  " ; 
and  that  they  cordially  acquiesce  in  the  restoration  of  the 
national  sovereignty  and  the  abolition  of  slavery;  and 
Grant's  name  carried  great  weight. 

But  Mr.  Schurz's  much  longer  and  more  careful  study 


Congress  and  the  "  Black  Codes"        287 

had  brought  him  to  very  different  conclusions.  He  was  a 
trained  observer  and  thinker;  a  German  refugee  after  the 
disturbances  of  1848;  a  leader  among  the  emancipationists 
in  Missouri  before  the  war,  a  general  in  the  Union  army, 
and  a  political  radical.  Mr.  Schurz  recapitulated  his  obser 
vations  and  conclusions,  as  he  then  reported  them,  in  an 
article  in  McClure's  Magazine  for  January,  1904;  and  they 
come  now  with  increased  weight  after  a  life-time  of  dis 
interested  and  sagacious  public  service.  That  he  found  the 
Southern  whites  acquiescing  in  their  defeat  only  as  of 
necessity,  conquered  but  not  convinced — is  no  matter  of 
surprise;  though  Mr.  Schurz  seems  somewhat  to  have 
shared  the  Northern  expectation  that  their  late  foes  should 
take  the  attitude  of  repentant  sinners.  But  as  to  their 
practical  attitude  toward  the  negro,  his  testimony  is  impor 
tant.  He  relates  that  he  found  the  general  assertion  to  be 
"  You  cannot  make  the  |/egro  work  without  compulsion." 
This  conviction  he  encountered  everywhere;  all  facts  to  the 
contrary  were  brushed  aside,  and  every  instance  of  idleness 
or  vagabondage  was  cited  as  proof  positive  of  the  JKegro's 
unwillingness  to  labor.  The  planter  who  seriously  main 
tained  in  Mr.  Schurz's  presence  that  one  of  his  /fegroes  was 
unfit  for  freedom  because  he  refused  to  submit  to  a  whip 
ping,  went  only  a  little  further  than  his  neighbors. 

As  to  actual  behavior  of  the  /|/egroes,  under  this  sudden 
and  tremendous  change  of  condition,  certain  facts  were 
noted;  not  a  single  act  of  vengeance  was  charged  against 
them ;  a  great  part,  probably  the  large  majority,  remained 
or  soon  went  back  to  work  for  their  old  employers;  but  a 
considerable  part  began  an  aimless  roaming  to  enjoy  their 
new  liberty,  or  huddle  around  the  stations  where  the  agents 
of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  doled  out  some  relief.  As  to  their 
education,  popular  opinion  was  no  less  unfavorable  than 
as  to  their  labor.  The  common  expressions  were  "  learn- 


288  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

ing  will  spoil  the/negro  for  work,"  "j^egro  education  would 
be  the  ruin  of  the  South,"  and  even  "  the  elevation  of  the 
blacks  would  be  the  degradation  of  the  whites."  In  practical 
application  of  these  views,  fefegro  schools  were  frequently 
broken  up  and  the  school-houses  burned;  and  in  many 
places  they  were  only  safe  under  the  immediate  protection 
of  the  Federal  troops.  After  many  further  particulars, 
especially  as  to  the  oppressive  laws  passed  by  the  new  gov 
ernments,  Mr.  Schurz  sums  up :  "  To  recapitulate ;  the 
white  people  of  the  South  were  harassed  by  pressing  neces 
sities,  and  most  of  them  in  a  troubled  and  greatly  excited 
state  of  mind.  The  emancipation  of  the  slaves  had 
destroyed  the  traditional  labor  system  upon  which  they  had 
depended.  Free  ^Jegro  labor  was  still  inconceivable  to 
them.  There  were  exceptions,  but,  as  a  rule,  their  ardent, 
and  in  a  certain  sense  not  unnatural,  desire  was  to  resist 
its  introduction,  and  to  save  or  restore  as  much  of  the  slave 
labor  system  as  possible." 

It  was  the  character  of  the  laws  and  ordinances  passed 
under  these  circumstances  which  was  to  the  better  senti 
ment  of  the  North  the  most  concrete  and  convincing  argu 
ment  against  restoring  the  Southern  States  by  the  short 
and  easy  road  proposed  by  President  Johnson.  It  is  to 
those  laws,  and  the  condition  underlying  them,  that  we  must 
ascribe  the  refusal  of  Congress — backed  by  Northern  con 
viction — to  confirm  the  early  restoration  which  at  first 
seemed  so  promising.  So  those  laws  deserve  careful  con 
sideration,  as  well  as  the  situation  which  led  to  them. 

The  Southern  people,  blacks  and  whites,  were  in  a  position 
of  almost  unexampled  difficulty.  To  the  ravages  of  war 
and  invasion,  of  impoverishment  and  bereavement — and, 
as  it  fell  out,  to  two  successive  seasons  of  disastrous  weather 
for  crops, — was  added  at  the  outset  a  complete  disarrange 
ment  of  the  principal  supply  of  labor.  The  mental  over- 


Congress  and  the  "Black  Codes"        289 

turning  was  as  great  as  the  material.  To  the  negroes  "  free 
dom  "  brought  a  vague  promise  of  life  without  toil  or 
trouble.  The  hard  facts  soon  undeceived  them.  But  for 
the  indulgent  Providence  they  at  first  hoped  for,  some 
occasional  and  partial  substitute  appeared  in  the  offices  of 
the  Freedmen's  Bureau.  This  had  been  established  by  Con 
gress,  in  March,  1865,  with  the  laudable  design  of  helping 
to  adjust  the  freedmen  to  their  new  condition;  to  make 
temporary  provision  for  the  extreme  physical  wants  of 
some;  to  aid  them  in  arrangements  for  labor  and  educa 
tion;  and,  as  was  at  first  contemplated,  to  lease  to  them 
abandoned  or  confiscated  lands,  in  plots  of  forty  acres,  for 
three  years.  This  land  provision  was  soon  abandoned,  there 
being  no  confiscation  to  provide  the  necessary  land;  but  it 
started  the  expectation  of  "  forty  acres  and  a  mule,"  which 
misled  many  a  freedman.  As  chief  of  the  Bureau  was 
appointed  General  O.  O.  Howard,  a  distinguished  Union 
commander,  of  the  highest  personal  character,  and  entirely 
devoted  to  his  new  work;  and  under  him  was  a  com 
missioner  with  a  working  force  in  each  of  the  States.  The 
Bureau  accomplished  considerable  good;  but  its  adminis 
tration  on  the  whole  was  not  of  the  highest  class ;  among 
its  subordinates  were  some  unfit  men;  and  a  good  deal  of 
offense  and  irritation  attended  its  operations.  At  most,  it 
touched  only  the  circumference  of  the  problem.  Three  and 
a  half  millions  of  newly  enfranchised,  ignorant  men,  women 
and  children !  What  should  provide  for  the  helpless  among 
them,  especially  for  the  children,  whom  the  master's  care 
had  supported?  How  should  order  be  maintained  in  the 
lower  mass,  half-brutalized,  whom  slavery  had  at  least 
restrained  from  vagabondage,  rapine,  and  crime?  And 
how  should  the  whole  body  be  induced  to  furnish  the 
dynamic,  driving  power  of  industry  essential  to  the  com 
munity's  needs?  These  questions  the  South  essayed  to 


290  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

answer  in  part  by  a  system  of  laws,  of  which  we  may  take 
as  a  fair  specimen  the  legislation  of  Mississippi — the  only 
State  which  had  enacted  this  class  of  laws  before  Congress 
met, — as  they  are  summarized  in  the  thorough  and  impartial 
book  of  Professor  J.  W.  Burgess,  Reconstruction  and  the 
Constitution. 

The  law  of  apprenticeship  ran  thus:  Negro  children 
under  eighteen,  orphans  or  receiving  no  support  from  their 
parents,  to  be  apprenticed,  by  clerk  of  probate  court,  to 
some  suitable  person, — by  preference  the  former  master 
or  mistress;  the  court  to  fix  the  terms,  having  the  interest 
of  the  minor  particularly  in  view;  males  to  be  apprenticed 
till  end  of  twenty-first  year,  females  to  end  of  eighteenth. 
No  other  punishment  to  be  permitted  than  the  common  law 
permits  to  a  parent  or  guardian.  If  the  apprentice  runs 
away,  he  is  to  be  apprehended  and  returned,  or,  if  he  refuses 
to  return,  to  be  confined  or  put  under  bonds  till  the  next 
term  of  the  court,  which  shall  then  decide  as  to  the  cause 
of  his  desertion,  and  if  it  appears  groundless  compel  his 
return,  or  if  he  has  been  ill-treated  fine  the  master  not  more 
than  $100  for  the  benefit  of  his  apprentice.  This  statute 
seems  not  oppressive  but  beneficent. 

The  law  of  vagrancy  provided  that  all  freedmen  having 
no  lawful  employment  or  business,  or  who  are  found  unlaw 
fully  assembling,  and  all  white  persons  so  assembling  in 
company  with  freedmen,  or  "  usually  associating  with  freed 
men,  free  negroes,  or  mulattoes,  on  terms  of  equality,"  are 
to  be  deemed  vagrants,  and  fined,  a  white  man  not  more 
than  $200,  a  negro  not  more  than  $50,  and  imprisoned,  a 
white  man  not  more  than  six  months,  a  negro  not  more  than 
ten  days.  If  the  negro  does  not  pay  his  fine  within  five  days, 
he  is  to  be  hired  out  by  the  "sheriff  to  the  person  who  will 
pay  his  fine  and  costs  for  the  shortest  term  of  service.  The 
same  treatment  is  to  be  applied  to  any  negro  who  fails  to 


Congress  and  the  "  Black  Codes "       291 

pay  his  tax.  This  statute  meant  legal  servitude  for  any 
negro  not  finding  employment,  and  the  same  penalty  for  a 
white  man  who  merely  consorted  with  negroes  on  equal 
terms. 

The  law  of  civil  rights  provided  that  all  negroes  are  to 
have  the  same  rights  with  whites  as  to  personal  property, 
as  to  suing  and  being  sued,  but  they  must  not  rent  or  lease 
lands  or  tenements  except  in  incorporated  towns  and  cities, 
and  under  the  control  of  the  corporate  authorities.  Pro 
vision  is  made  for  the  intermarriage  of  negroes,  and  the 
legalization  of  previous  connections ;  but  intermarriage 
between  whites  and  negroes  is  to  be  punished  with  imprison 
ment  for  life.  Negroes  may  be  witnesses  in  all  civil  cases 
in  which  negroes  are  parties,  and  in  criminal  cases  where 
the  alleged  crime  is  by  a  white  person  against  a  negro. 
Every  negro  shall  have  a  lawful  home  and  employment, 
and  hold  either  a  public  license  to  do  job-work  or  a  written 
contract  for  labor.  If  a  laborer  quits  his  employment 
before  the  time  specified  in  the  contract,  he  is  to  forfeit  his 
wages  for  the  year  up  to  the  time  of  quitting.  Any  one 
enticing  a  laborer  to  desert  his  work,  or  selling  or  giving 
food  or  raiment  or  any  other  thing  knowingly  to  a  deserter 
from  contract  labor,  may  be  punished  by  fine  or  imprison 
ment.  No  negro  is  to  carry  arms  without  a  public  license. 
Any  negro  guilty  of  riot,  affray,  trespass,  seditious  speeches, 
insulting  gestures,  language  or  acts,  or  committing  any 
other  misdemeanor,  to  be  fined  and  imprisoned,  or  if  the 
fine  is  not  paid  in  five  days  to  be  hired  out  to  whoever  will 
pay  fine  and  costs.  All  penal  and  criminal  laws  against 
offenses  by  slaves  or  free  negroes  to  continue  in  force  except 
as  specially  repealed. 

Many  of  these  clauses  speak  eloquently  for  themselves, 
and  as  to  the  law  in  general  Professor  Burgess,  who  cer 
tainly  has  no  anti-Southern  bias,  comments :  "  Almost  every 


292  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

act,  word  or  gesture  of  the  negro,  not  consonant  with  good 
taste  and  good  manners  as  well  as  good  morals,  was  made 
a  crime  or  misdemeanor,  for  which  he  could  first  be  fined 
by  the  magistrates  and  then  be  consigned  to  a  condition  of 
almost  slavery  for  an  indefinite  time,  if  he  could  not  pay  the 
bill."  And  Professor  Burgess  adds,  "  This  is  a  fair  sample 
of  the  legislation  subsequently  passed  by  all  the  States 
reconstructed  under  President  Johnson's  plan." 

The  case  against  this  class  of  laws  may  be  left — in  the 
necessary  limits  of  space — with  this  careful  and  moderate 
statement,  though  the  temptation  is  strong  to  quote  from 
Mr.  Schurz  and  other  authorities  further  specimens  of  the 
great  body  of  harassing  legislation,  both  state  and  local; — 
the  establishment  of  pillory  and  whipping-post;  the  impo 
sition  of  unjust  taxes,  with  heavy  license  fees  for  the  prac 
tice  of  mechanic  arts ;  requirements  of  certified  employment 
under  some  white  man ;  prohibition  of  preaching  or  religious 
meetings  without  &  special  license ;  sale  into  indefinite  servi 
tude  for  slight  occasion;  and  so  on — a  long,  grim  chapter. 
Whatever  excuses  may  be  pleaded  for  these  laws,  under  the 
circumstances  of  the  South,  all  have  this  implication, — that 
the  negro  was  unfit  for  freedom.  He  was  to  be  kept  as  near 
to  slavery  as  possible ;  to  be  made,  "  if  no  longer  the  slave 
of  an  individual  master,  the  slave  of  society."  And  further, 
as  to  the  broad  conditions  of  the  time,  two  things  are  to  be 
noted.  The  physical  violence  was  almost  wholly  practiced 
by  the  whites  against  the  negroes.  Bands  of  armed  white 
men,  says  Mr.  Schurz,  patrolled  the  highways  (as  in  the  days 
of  slavery)  to  drive  back  wanderers;  murder  and  mutilation 
of  colored  men  and  women  were  common, — "  a  number  of 
such  cases  I  had  occasion  to  examine  myself."  In  some  dis 
tricts  there  was  a  reign  of  terror  among  the  freedmen.  And 
finally,  the  anticipation  of  failure  of  voluntary  labor 
speedily  proved  groundless.  A  law  was  at  work  more 


Congress  and  the  "  Black  Codes"        293 

efficient  than  any  on  the  statute-books, — Nature's  primal 
law,  "Work  or  starve!"  Many,  probably  a  majority  of 
the  freedmen,  worked  on  for  their  old  masters,  for  wages. 
The  others,  after  some  brief  experience  of  idleness  and 
starvation,  found  work  as  best  they  could.  No  tropical 
paradise  of  laziness  was  open  to  the  Southern  negro.  The 
first  Christmas  holidays,  looked  forward  to  with  vague  hope 
by  the  freedmen  and  vague  fear  by  the  whites,  passed  with 
out  any  visitation  of  angels  or  insurrection  of  fiends.  In  a 
word,  the  most  apparent  justifications  for  the  reactionary 
legislation, — danger  of  rapine  and  outrage  from  emancipated 
barbarians,  and  a  failure  of  the  essential  supply  of  labor 
— proved  alike  groundless. 

As  the  facts  of  the  situation  became  known,  not  only 
by  Mr.  Schurz's  report,  but  by  news  from  the  Southern 
capitals  and  by  various  evidence — it  was  very  clear  that 
Congress  could  not  and  would  not  set  the  seal  of  national 
authority  on  any  such  settlement  as  this.  Granted,  and 
freely,  that  no  millennium  was  to  be  expected,  that  a  long 
and  painful  adjustment  was  necessary, — yet  it  was  out  of 
the  question  that  any  political  theory  or  any  optimistic  hopes 
should  induce  acquiescence  in  the  legal  establishment  of 
semi-slavery  throughout  the  South.  It  was  not  Stevens's 
rancor,  nor  Sumner's  unpracticability,  but  the  serious  con 
viction  of  the  North,  educated  and  tempered  by  long  debate 
and  bitter  sacrifice,  which  ordained  that  the  work  of  free 
dom  must  not  be  thrown  into  ruins. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

RECONSTRUCTION:    THE   SECOND    PLAN 

CONGRESS  addressed  itself,  in  the  first  instance,  to  extend 
ing  and  prolonging  that  provision  for  the  freedmen  which 
it  had  already  made  through  the  Freedmen's  Bureau.  A 
bill  was  reported,  having  the  weighty  sanction  of  Senator 
Trumbull  and  the  judiciary  committee,  greatly  increasing 
the  force  of  officials  under  the  Bureau ;  putting  it  under  the 
military  administration  of  the  President  and  so  with  the 
direct  support  of  the  army;  and  broadening  its  functions 
to  include  the  building  of  school-houses  and  asylums  for 
the  freedmen,  and  a  wide  jurisdiction  over  all  civil  and 
criminal  cases  in  which  local  laws  made  an  unjust  discrimi 
nation  between  the  races.  The  bill  passed  the  Senate  and 
House,  by  the  full  party  majority.  It  was  sent  to  the  Pres 
ident,  February  10,  1866,  and  nine  days  later  he  returned 
it  with  a  veto  message,  calmly  and  ably  argued.  He  objected 
to  the  bill  as  a  war  measure  after  peace  had  been  pro 
claimed.  He  took  exception  to  the  intrusion  of  military 
authority  upon  the  sphere  of  the  civil  courts,  and  to  the 
extension  of  Federal  authority  in  behalf  of  black  men  be 
yond  what  had  ever  been  exercised  in  behalf  of  white  men. 
The  message  was  strong  enough  to  win  a  few  of  the  ortho 
dox  Republicans,  including  ex-Governor  Morgan  of  New 
York,  and  the  two-thirds  vote  necessary  to  carry  the  bill 
over  the  veto  could  not  be  gained. 

Up  to  this  time  there  seems  reason  to  believe  that  while 
the  Republicans  in  Congress  were  firm  in  claiming  for  that 

294 


Reconstruction:    The   Second   Plan       295 

body  a.  decisive  voice  in  reconstruction,  yet  a  majority  of 
them  were  more  favorable  to  the  policy  of  President  John 
son  than  to  that  of  Sumner  and  Stevens.  But  now,  upon 
the  necessity  of  safeguarding  the  freedmen  by  exceptional 
measures  in  a  wholly  exceptional  time,  the  preponderance 
of  conviction  turned  against  him  in  Congress  and  in  the 
country.  His  own  acts  quickly  converted  that  first  oppo 
sition  into  hostility  and  alarm. 

Until  now  President  Johnson,  whatever  dissent  he  might 
provoke,  had  appeared  as  a  dignified  statesman.  But  three 
days  after  his  veto,  on  February  22 — Washington's  birth 
day — a  cheering  crowd  called  the  President  to  the  balcony 
of  the  White  House.  They  heard  a  speech, — how  different 
from  what  Lincoln  had  spoken  in  the  same  place  in  the 
previous  April.  Johnson  was  exhilarated  by  his  success, 
forgetful  that  he  still  faced  a  hostile  majority  in  Congress, 
exasperated  by  opposition,  and  roused  by  the  shouts  of  the 
crowd, — and  his  native  passion  and  coarseness  came  out. 
Sumner  had  been  severe  in  his  language;  he  had  likened 
President  Johnson  to  President  Pierce  in  the  Kansas  days, 
and  hinted  a  family  resemblance  to  Pharaoh  of  Egypt. 
Wendell  Phillips  was  in  his  native  element  of  denunciation. 
Now  the  President  declared  to  his  applauding  hearers  that 
he  had  against  him  men  as  much  opposed  to  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  government,  and  he  believed  as  much 
laboring  to  pervert  or  destroy  them,  as  had  been  the  leaders 
of  the  rebellion, — Davis,  Toombs,  and  their  associates.  To 
the  responsive  cheers,  and  the  cry  for  names,  he  answered 
by  naming  Stevens,  Sumner  and  Phillips.  He  rehearsed 
his  rise  from  tailor  to  President,  and  declared  that  a  ground 
swell,  an  earthquake  of  popular  support,  was  coming  to 
him.  His  speech  brought  surprise  and  dismay  to  the 
country.  It  fanned  into  hot  flame  the  opposition  between 
President  and  Congress.  In  vain  did  John  Sherman, — 


296  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

who  had  conferred  with  the  President  in  the  summer,  and 
thought  highly  of  his  patriotism — now  hold  out  the  olive 
branch  in  the  Senate.  A  keen  observer  at  Washington, 
Samuel  Bowles, — who  had  held  a  friendly  attitude  toward 
both  the  President  and  the  party  leaders, — now  wrote,  Feb 
ruary  26,  "  Distrust,  suspicion,  the  conceit  of  power,  the 
infirmities  of  temper  on  both  sides,  have  brought  affairs 
to  the  very  verge  of  disorder  and  ruin."  He  dissuaded 
from  taking  sides  in  the  quarrel ;  there  was  too  much  right 
and  too  much  wrong  on  both  sides.  He  urged,  March  3, — 
and  no  doubt  he  represented  the  best  sentiment  of  the 
country :  '''  The  great  point  is  to  secure  protection  and 
justice  for  the  freedmen.  .  .  .  For  the  present  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau,  military  occupancy,  and  United  States  courts, 
must  be  our  reliance.  .  .  .  We  want  the  President  firm 
and  resolute  on  this  point,  and  we  want  to  arouse  the 
better  class  of  the  Southern  people  to  do  their  duty  in  the 
same  regard." 

The  weakness  of  the  veto  message  on  the  Freedmen's 
Bureau  bill  had  been  the  absence  of  any  solicitude  for  the 
welfare  of  the  freedmen;  constitutional  theory  seemed  to 
wholly  supersede  the  practical  necessity  of  the  case.  Now 
Congress  again  approached  the  matter  in  the  Civil  Rights 
bill,  carefully  formulated  in  the  judiciary  committee, 
thoroughly  debated  and  amended,  and  passed  by  both  houses 
late  in  March.  It  affirmed  United  States  citizenship  for 
all  persons  born  in  the  country  and  not  subject  to  any  for 
eign  power ;  it  declared  for  all  citizens  'an  equal  right  to 
make  and  enforce  contracts,  sue,  give  evidence,  hold  and 
sell  property,  etc. ;  full  equality  as  to  security  of  person 
and  property,  as  to  pains  and  penalties, — in  short,  complete 
civil  equality.  Original  jurisdiction  was  given  to  United 
States  courts,  and  to  these  could  be  transferred  any  case 
involving  these  subjects  begun  in  a  State  court.  The  bill 


Reconstruction :     The  Second  Plan       297 

empowered  the  President  to  use  the  army  for  its  enforce 
ment.  All  this  was  under  authority  of  the  Thirteenth 
Amendment. 

This,  too,  the  President  vetoed,  as  unnecessary,  as  em 
ploying  the  military  arm  too  freely,  as  extending  unwisely 
the  power  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  as  especially  un 
wise  legislation  while  eleven  States  out  of  thirty-six  were 
unrepresented  in  Congress.  But  the  President  was  now 
going  in  the  face  not  only  of  the  congressional  majority 
but  of  the  North  at  large,  which  was  unmistakably  opposed 
to  leaving  the  freedmen  with  no  protection  against  their  old 
masters.  The  veto  was  overridden,  and  became  a  law  April 
9.  The  Freedmen's  Bureau  bill,  somewhat  amended,  was 
again  passed,  this  time  over  a  veto,  and  became  a  law 
July  1 6. 

It  was  after  the  decisive  victory  over  the  President  on  the 
Civil  Rights  bill  that  Congress  took  up  the  comprehensive 
measure  which  embodied  its  own  plan  of  reconstruction 
as  a  substitute  for  the  President's.  That  measure  was  the 
Fourteenth  Amendment.  It  was  drawn  up  by  the  recon 
struction  committee,  of  which  Senator  Fessenden  was  chair 
man,  and  probably  his  was  the  leading  part  in  framing  its 
provisions.  The  first  proposition  was  only  to  make  the 
basis  of  congressional  representation  dependent  on  the  ex 
tension  or  denial  of  suffrage  to  the  freedmen.  This  was 
proposed  January  22,  1866,  and  after  some  weeks'  discussion 
passed  the  House  but  failed  in  the  Senate.  It  was  replaced 
by  a  broader  measure,  which  was  reported  April  30,  debated 
and  amended  for  six  weeks,  and  finally  in  mid-June  took 
the  form  in  which  it  now  stands  in  the  Constitution,  and 
was  approved  by  Congress.  It  then  went  before  the  States 
for  their  action,  with  a  tacit  but  strong  implication  that 
upon  its  acceptance  and  adoption  the  lately  seceded  States 
would  be  fully  restored.  It  was  in  effect  the  plan  of  recon- 


298  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

struction  first  offered  by  Congress,  as  a  substitute  for  the 
President's. 

The  first  article  of  the  amendment  declares  that  all  per 
sons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States  are  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  State  wherein  they  reside ; 
and  that  all  are  entitled  to  the  equal  protection  of  the  laws. 
Another  section  guarantees  the  validity  of  the  public  debt, 
and  forbids  payment  of  the  Confederate  debt  or  payment  for 
the  emancipation  of  slaves.  Both  these  articles  appear  at 
this  distance  of  time  to  be  beyond  question  or  criticism. 
Another  article  apportions  representation  in  Congress,  as 
heretofore,  according  to  population;  but  further  provides 
that  any  State  which  denies  the  suffrage  to  any  part  of  its 
adult  male  population,  except  for  rebellion  or  other  crime, 
shall  have  its  congressional  representation  reduced  in  the 
same  proportion.  It  will  be  remembered  that  under  the  old 
Constitution  the  basis  of  representation  was  fixed  by  adding 
to  the  total  of  the  free  population  a  number  equal  to  three- 
fifths  of  the  slaves.  Now  that  the  slaves  had  become  freed- 
men,  the  representation  of  the  old  slave  States  would  to  that 
extent  be  increased.  But  it  seemed  neither  just  nor  expe 
dient  to  permit  such  an  increase  of  power,  unless  the  class 
on  whose  enumeration  it  was  based  were  made  bona  fide 
citizens,  and  sharers  in  this  power.  If  under  this  amend 
ment  the  Southern  States  should  choose  to  give  the  vote  to 
the  freedmen,  their  total  representation  in  Congress  would 
be  raised  from  sixty-one  to  seventy.  If  they  did  not  give  it, 
their  representation  would  fall  to  forty-five.  There  was 
thus  offered  them  a  strong  inducement  to  establish  impartial 
suffrage ;  while  yet  they  were  at  full  liberty  to  withhold  it  at 
the  price  of  some  diminution  of  power  compared  with  com 
munities  adopting  the  broader  principle.  The  reconstruc 
tion  committee  had  listened  to  prominent  Southerners  as 
to  the  probable  reception  of  this  provision.  Stephens 


Reconstruction:     The  Second  Plan       299 

thought  his  people  would  consider  it  less  than  their  due 
and  would  not  ratify  it.  But  Lee  thought  that  Virginia 
would  accept  it,  and  then  decide  the  question  of  suffrage 
according  to  her  preponderating  interest;  that  at  present 
she  would  prefer  the  smaller  representation,  but  would  hold 
herself  ready  to  extend  the  suffrage  if  at  any  time  the  freed- 
men  should  show  a  capacity  to  vote  properly  and  under- 
standingly. 

So  far,  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  seems  now  to  embody 
a  sound  statesmanship.  But  the  remaining  article  must  be 
judged  by  itself.  It  excludes  from  all  State  and  national 
offices  all  those,  who,  having  taken  an  official  oath  to  sup 
port  the  Constitution,  have  afterward  taken  part  in  insur 
rection  and  rebellion.  This  was  ingeniously  framed  with 
an  appearance  of  justice,  as  if  debarring  from  office  only 
those  who  to  rebellion  had  added  perjury.  But,  as  a  matter 
of  ethics,  the  breaking  of  official  oaths  is  an  inevitable 
incident  of  every  revolution;  and  just  as  war  is  held  to 
suspend  in  a  measure  the  command  "  thou  shalt  not  kill," 
so  revolution  must  be  held  to  cancel  the  obligation  of  official 
oaths.  The  opposite  view  would  affix  the  full  guilt  of 
perjury  to  many  leaders  in  the  American  Revolution,  per 
haps  to  Washington  himself.  It  was  not  really  as  perjurers 
that  the  excluded  class  were  debarred  from  office,  but  as 
prominent  leaders  in  the  rebellion,  so  marked  by  having 
previously  held  office.  It  shut  out,  and  was  so  intended,  a 
class  not  only  very  large  in  numbers  but  including  the  best 
intelligence  and  social  leadership  of  the  South.  To  exclude 
these  men  from  all  political  leadership  in  the  new  regime 
was  in  flat  defiance  of  that  statesmanship,  as  wise  as  mag 
nanimous,  which  Andrew  and  Beecher  had  voiced.  As 
one  New  England  observer  put  the  matter,  it  would  help 
matters  greatly  if  no  man  favored  a  government  for  others 
that  he  would  not  like  to  live  under  himself;  now  how 


300  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

would  it  work  in  Massachusetts  to  exclude  from  the  govern 
ment  the  whole  Republican  party?  Yet  the  Democrats  in 
the  State  have  ten  times  the  knowledge,  character  and  ability, 
that  are  possessed  in  the  South  by  the  elements  free  from 
stain  of  rebellion. 

The  disqualification,  to  be  sure,  was  removable  in  each 
case  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  Congress.  But  it  could  not 
be  foreseen  how  Congress  would  be  disposed;  and  in  fact, 
the  President's  pardon,  so  freely  given,  had  been  by  Congress 
expressly  deprived  of  any  political  value;  being  held  to 
exempt  only  from  legal  pains  and  penalties.  The  new 
exclusion,  if  adopted,  could  hardly  work  other  than  dis 
astrously.  And,  being  offered,  as  the  entire  amendment 
necessarily  was,  for  acceptance  or  rejection  by  all  the  States, 
this  provision  was  as  well  suited  to  repel  the  South  as  if  it 
had  been  designed  for  that  purpose.  It  offended  that 
loyalty  to  their  tried  leaders  in  stress  and  storm  which  is  one 
of  the  best  traits  in  a  people's  character.  Compare  it  with 
Beecher's  saying  of  a  few  months  earlier,  "  I  think  it  to  be 
the  great  need  of  this  nation  to  save  the  self-respect  of  the 
South."  The  difference  measures  the  degree  of  the  mis 
take  under  which  the  mass  of  the  North  were  still  labor 
ing.  They  looked  upon  the  rebellion  as  a  moral  and  per 
sonal  crime.  They  had  no  comprehension  of  the  Southern 
standpoint;  and,  sure  that  their  own  cause  was  just,  they 
believed  that  their  opponents  were  not  only  mistaken  but 
morally  guilty.  As  it  was  hardly  possible  to  suppose  the 
8,000,000  to  have  all  gone  wrong  out  of  individual  per 
versity,  the  current  view  at  the  North  was  that  Secession 
sprang  from  a  conspiracy;  that  its  leaders  had  secretly 
plotted,  like  Aaron  Burr,  and  thus  misled  their  followers. 
The  impulse  to  inflict  death  or  imprisonment  or  confiscation 
on  anybody  was  infrequent  or  short-lived;  the  desire  for 
such  punishment  lingered  only  in  an  irrational  wish  for 


Reconstruction:     The  Second  Plan       301 

vengeance  on  Jefferson  Davis.  But,  if  the  leading  class 
in  the  society  and  public  life  of  the  South  were  morally 
responsible  for  a  great  treason  and  rebellion,  it  might  seem 
not  only  just  but  wise  to  exclude  them  from  the  new  political 
order. 

The  critics  of  the  reconstruction  policy  are  often  chal 
lenged  by  its  defenders  with  the  question,  "  But  what  better 
course  can  you  suggest,  even  now  ?  "  And  the  immense 
difficulty  of  the  problem,  even  as  calmly  viewed  today  by 
the  closet  student,  may  well  make  us  charitable  toward  the 
men  who,  for  the  most  part,  did  the  best  they  knew  under 
the  immediate  besetment  of  measureless  perplexities  and 
contradictions.  But  while  we  may  approve  of  their  work  in 
the  rest  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  with  equal  emphasis 
we  may  say :  The  mistake  was  great,  in  the  amendment  and 
later,  of  shutting  out  the  very  men  who  should  have  been 
included.  Better  by  far  would  it  have  been  to  take  their 
counsel  and  co-operation  even  beforehand  in  planning  the 
work  of  reconstruction.  Even  as  to  that  crucial  point,  the 
legislation  oppressive  to  the  freedmen,  and  the  deeper  diffi 
culty  underlying  it,  the  ingrained  Southern  attitude  toward 
the  negro  as  an  inferior  being, — even  as  to  this,  something 
might  have  been  accomplished  had  the  Southern  men,  who 
went  to  Washington  in  the  vain  hope  of  immediate  admis 
sion  to  Congress,  been  met  by  a  President  of  Lincoln's  or 
Andrew's  calibre.  Even  as  it  was,  there  were  signs  of  prom 
ise  in  Georgia, — so  says  Rhodes  in  his  excellent  History  of 
the  United  States.  The  newly  elected  Governor,  Judge 
Jenkins,  a  man  of  "  universally  acknowledged  probity  and 
uprightness  of  character  "  made  in  his  inaugural  address 
(December  14,  1865)  a  strong  plea  for  the  negroes  who  had 
so  faithfully  cared  for  the  lands  and  homes  and  families 
of  the  soldiers  in  the  field :  "  As  the  governing  class  indi 
vidually  and  collectively  we  owe  them  unbounded  kindness 


302  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

and  thorough  protection.  .  .  .  Their  rights  of  person 
and  property  should  be  made  perfectly  secure."  To  like 
effect  spoke  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  revered  by  all  Geor 
gians,  February  22,  1866;  recalling  the  fidelity  of  the  slaves 
during  the  war  and  the  debt  of  gratitude  it  created ;  the  obli 
gation  of  honor  to  the  poor,  untutored,  uninformed ;  asking 
for  the  negroes  ample  and  full  protection,  with  equality  be 
fore  the  law  as  to  all  rights  of  person,  liberty  and  property. 
And  such  equality  the  Georgia  Legislature  speedily  ordained. 
Tennessee  did  the  like.  Rhodes  expresses  confidence  that 
by  gentle  pressure  from  the  President  and  Congress,  Vir 
ginia,  North  Carolina  and  Alabama  could  have  been  per 
suaded  to  similar  legislation  within  a  twelve  month,  and  the 
other  States  would  have  followed. 

The  excluding  article  in  the  amendment  was  probably 
made  as  a  concession  by  the  moderate  Republicans  to  the 
radicals.  It  replaced  an  article  originally  reported  by  the 
committee,  excluding  not  only  from  office  but  from  the  suf 
frage  all  who  had  taken  part  in  the  Rebellion,  until  July  4, 
1870.  The  article  as  adopted  was  disliked  by  Sherman  and 
Wilson,  the  latter  especially  declaring  his  willingness  to 
remove  the  disqualifications  as  soon  as  possible  after  a  set 
tlement  had  been  made.  In  point  of  fact  they  were  removed 
piecemeal  by  Congress  almost  as  freely  as  President  John 
son  had  done  the  like,  and  were  ended  except  for  a  few 
hundred  by  a  sweeping  amnesty  in  1872. 

Grant  said  to  A.  H.  Stephens  in  April,  1866,  "  The  true 
policy  should  be  to  make  friends  of  enemies."  If  these  men, 
with  a  few  others  of  like  temper  in  North  and  South,  could 
have  settled  the  terms  of  the  new  order,  a  different  founda 
tion  might  have  been  laid.  But  in  default  of  any  such 
happy,  unlikely  conjuncture  of  the  right  men  in  the  right 
place,  it  is  the  deep  and  wide  tides  of  public  opinion  that 
largely  shape  events.  The  average  Southern  view  of  the 


Reconstruction:     The  Second  Plan       303 

negro,  and  the  average  Northern  view  of  the  "  rebel,"  were 
the  Scylla  and  Charybdis  between  which  the  ship  of  state 
steered  its  troubled  voyage. 

Returning  now  to  the  course  of  events, — Congress  made 
it  plain  that  the  acceptance  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment 
would  bring  the  restoration  of  the  South,  not  by  a  formal 
declaration,  but  by  its  action  in  promptly  admitting  Tennes 
see  when  within  a  month  it  ratified  the  amendment.  So  be 
fore  the  South  and  the  country  were  now  the  two  policies, — 
of  Congress  and  the  President, — and  the  summer  and  autumn 
saw  a  general  and  eager  discussion.  The  South  waited 
events,  hoping  for  the  President's  success.  In  the  North 
there  was  at  first  a  marked  effort  to  rally  conservative  men 
of  both  parties  to  his  side.  A  great  convention  was  held  at 
Philadelphia,  promoted  by  the  President,  Seward,  Weed 
and  Henry  J.  Raymond;  with  delegates  from  every  State; 
the  first  day's  procession  led  by  Massachusetts  and  South 
Carolina  representatives  arm-in-arm ;  Southern  governors 
and  judges  heartily  assenting  to  the  declaration  that  not 
only  is  slavery  dead,  but  nobody  wants  it  revived ;  and  with 
cordial  indorsement  of  the  President's  reconstruction 
policy. 

There  was  a  counter-convention  at  Pittsburg;  there  were 
"  soldiers'  and  sailors'  conventions  "  on  both  sides.  From 
the  Cabinet  three  members,  Speed,  Denison  and  Harlan, 
resigned  because  their  convictions  were  with  Congress ;  but 
Stanton  remained  as  Secretary  of  War,  though  he  was  now 
a  bitter  opponent  of  the  President, — a  safeguard  over  the 
army,  as  the  radical  leaders  considered  him,  and  by  his  atti 
tude  and  natural  temper  a  constant  exasperation  to  his 
nominal  chief.  A  fierce  and  bloody  riot  in  New  Orleans, 
of  which  the  precise  causes  were  obscure,  but  in  which  the 
negroes  were  the  sufferers,  heightened  the  Northern  anxiety 
as  to  the  general  situation. 


304  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

The  popular  tide  evidently  ran  with  Congress,  yet  John 
son  had  the  promise  of  very  respectable  support  until  he 
threw  it  away.  His  extempore  expressions  suggested  an 
overweening  view  of  his  own  position.  To  the  committee 
reporting  to  him  the  Philadelphia  convention,  he  said,  "  We 
have  seen  hanging  upon  the  verge  of  the  government,  as  it 
were,  a  body  called,  or  which  assumes  to  be,  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States — but  in  fact  a  Congress  of  only  a  part 
of  the  States."  In  September  he  made  a  tour  of  the  North 
ern  States,  taking  in  his  train  Secretaries  Seward  and 
Welles,  with  Grant  and  Farragut ; — "  swinging  round  the 
circle,"  he  called  his  trip.  He  made  addresses  in  the  prin 
cipal  cities,  in  which  he  denounced  his  opponents,  sometimes 
with  vulgar  abuse,  bragged  of  his  own  rise  from  tailor  to 
President,  and  bandied  words  with  the  mob.  He  shamed 
many  of  the  men  of  character — Beecher  among  them — who 
had  viewed  him  with  favor.  The  tide  turned  overwhelm 
ingly  against  him.  The  November  election  returned  a  Con 
gress  consisting  in  the  House  of  143  Republicans  to  49 
Democrats,  with  a  Senate  of  42  Republicans  to  n 
Democrats. 

It  was  like  the  hand  of  Nemesis  that  the  South,  led  to 
crushing  defeat  by  its  slave-holding  aristocracy,  should 
now  have  its  interests  sacrificed  through  the  characteristic 
faults  of  one  of  its  poor  whites, — his  virtues  overborne  by 
his  narrow  judgment,  uncontrolled  temper  and  coarse 
speech. 

Warned  by  the  election,  the  South  might  well  have 
accepted  the  Fourteentn  Amendment  as  the  price  of  its 
restoration.  But  it  failed  to  read  the  handwriting  on  the 
wall.  It  could  not  yet  brook  acquiescence  in  the  exclusion 
of  its  old  leaders,  and  the  alternative  of  negro  suffrage  or 
reduced  power  in  Congress.  The  pride  of  race,  the  un- 
quenched  spirit  of  the  "  lost  cause,"  prompted  it  to  stand 


Reconstruction:    The  Second  Plan      305 

out  for  better  terms.  During  the  autumn  and  winter  of  ^ 
1866-7  the  lately  seceded  States,  except  Tennessee,  rejected 
the  amendment.  So  failed  the  first  congressional  plan  of 
reconstruction,  as  the  President's  earlier  plan  had  failed. 
And  now  there  was  small  hesitation  or  delay  in  framing  and 
enforcing  the  final  plan. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

RECONSTRUCTION:     THE    FINAL    PLAN 

THE  Congress  which  met  in  December,  1866,  was  the  same 
body  as  in  the  previous  winter;  but  the  prolonged  contest, 
the  President's  misbehavior,  the  South's  rejection  of  the 
offered  terms,  and  the  popular  verdict  at  the  November 
election,  had  strengthened  the  hands  of  the  Republicans 
and  intensified  their  temper.  Thaddeus  Stevens  brought  in, 
February  6,  1867,  a  bill  which  was  trenchant  indeed.  It 
superseded  the  governments  of  the  ten  unreconstructed 
States,  divided  their  territory  into  five  military  districts, 
placed  their  commanders  under  the  orders,  not  of  the  Pres 
ident,  but  of  the  general  of  the  army,  and  suspended  the 
habeas  corpus.  It  was  military  rule  in  its  barest  form,  and 
for  an  indefinite  period.  Elaine  moved  an  amendment, 
specifying  the  terms  on  which  the  States  might  be  released 
from  this  military  control  and  restored  to  their  normal 
status.  But  Stevens's  despotic  sway  shut  out  the  amend 
ment  and  carried  the  bill  through  the  House.  In  the  Senate, 
Sherman  successfully  carried  a  substitute,  much  the  same 
as  the  Elaine  amendment.  This  went  back  to  the  House, 
where  a  majority  of  Republicans  favored  the  change,  but 
Stevens  still  opposed  it,  and  had  enough  followers  to  make 
together  with  the  Democrats  a  majority  that  threw  out  the. 
whole  measure.  But  success  by  such  allies  was  undesired 
by  the  radicals  and  alarming  to  the  moderate  Republicans.. 
There  was  reconsideration,  minor  concessions  to  Stevens, 
and  the  bill  finally  passed  February  20,  not  at  all  as  he  had. 
designed  it,  but  in  a  form  due  either  to  Elaine  or  Sherman, 

'  306 


Reconstruction:     The  Final  Plan        307 

It  is  singular  that  so  important  a  measure  should  be  of 
doubtful  paternity.  It  seems  more  like  a  production  of 
Sherman,  who  in  constructive  ability  was  far  ahead  of 
Elaine  and  of  most  of  his  congressional  colleagues.  In  its 
substance  it  represents  apparently  the  judgment  and  pur 
pose  of  the  great  majority  of  the  Republicans  in  Congress. 

It  is  remarkable  that  so  vital  and  momentous  a  law  should 
have  been  enacted  with  so  little  discussion.  It  was  hurried 
through,  in  order  that  its  passage  twelve  days  before  the 
close  of  the  session  might  prevent  the  President  from  "  pock 
eting  "  it — letting  it  fail  for  want  of  his  signature,  without 
risking  a  veto.  The  debate,  as  Elaine  reports  it  in  his 
Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  seems  to  have  been  mainly 
for  the  scheme,  and  against  the  far  more  drastic  proposal 
of  Stevens  and  Boutwell, — in  opposing  which  Elaine  him 
self  seems  to  have  done  service  certainly  as  creditable  as 
any  in  his  checkered  career.  But  the  radical  character  of 
the  bill  as  passed,  its  great  advance  on  all  earlier  proposals, 
seems  to  have  called  forth  hardly  any  challenge  among  the 
Republicans. 

In  a  word,  the  law  put  the  whole  unreconstructed  South, 
— all  of  the  old  Confederacy  except  Tennessee, — under  tem 
porary  military  government,  subject  to  the  President;  and 
the  commanders  were  at  once  to  initiate  measures  for  new 
State  organizations.  They  were  to  enroll  all  adult  males, 
white  and  black,  as  voters,  except  only  such  as  the  Four 
teenth  Amendment  would  shut  out  from  office ;  these  voters 
were  then  to  elect  delegates  in  each  State  to  a  convention; 
this  body  was  to  frame  a  constitution  incorporating  perma 
nently  the  same  conditions  of  suffrage ;  this  constitution  was 
then  to  be  submitted  to  popular  vote ;  and  if  a  majority  rati 
fied  it, — if  Congress  approved  it, — if  the  Legislature  elected 
under  it  ratified  the  Fourteenth  Amendment, — and  if  and 
when  that  amendment  received  enough  ratifications  to  enact 


308  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

it, — then,  at  last,  each  State  was  to  be  fully  restored  to  the 
Union. 

On  this  plan  the  States  were  rapidly  and  finally  recon 
structed.  Its  central  feature  was  the  enforcement  of  suf 
frage  for  the  negroes  throughout  the  South.  Of  this  tre 
mendous  measure,  but  small  discussion  appears  in  the  de 
bate  over  the  bill.  But  it  seems  to  have  had  behind  it  the 
prevailing  sentiment  of  the  North.  A  good  witness  on  this 
point  is  the  Springfield  Republican.  That  paper  had  strongly 
advocated  the  adoption  of  the  Massachusetts  plan,  a  read 
ing  and  writing  qualification  for  suffrage — the  State's  only 
good  legacy  from  the  Know-nothing  period.  Of  such  a 
provision  it  said  January  9 :  "It  would  be  a  most  potent 
stimulus  to  education,  and  once  made  the  national  rule  there 
would  be  such  a  studying  of  spelling  books  as  never  was 
seen  before.  .  .  .  There  can  be  no  sure  reliance  on  the 
votes  of  blacks  any  more  than  of  whites  who  cannot  read 
their  ballots."  But  this  plan  found  little  popular  favor. 
The  objection  to  it  which  we  now  recognize, — that  the 
Southern  States  might  probably  have  forborne  to  educate 
the  freedmen,  and  so  left  them  disfranchised, — was  not 
then  prominent.  But  there  had  not  come  to  be  a  general 
recognition  at  the  North  of  the  danger  of  ignorant  suf 
frage.  Of  the  actual  drift  of  opinion  the  Republican  said, 
March  3,  that  equal  suffrage  is  "  the  sole  condition  about 
which  there  is  any  approach  to  unanimity  among  our  people." 

To  understand  this  opinion  we  must  look  back  a  little. 
The  belief  in  universal  male  suffrage  was  part  of  the  Demo 
cratic  movement  that  swept  almost  unchallenged  from  Jef 
ferson's  time  till  Lincoln's.  The  mass  of  ignorant  immi 
grants  gave  some  alarm,  but  they  seemed  to  be  successfully 
digested  by  the  body  politic.  Beecher,  we  have  seen,  thought 
suffrage  a  "  natural  right,"  and  that  was  a  common  doc 
trine.  Besides,  it  was  assumed  at  the  North  that  the  negroes 


Reconstruction:     The  Final  Plan        309 

were  naturally  the  friends  of  the  national  government  and 
of  the  party  that  had  given  them  freedom.  There  were 
politicians  in  plenty  who  looked  to  the  negro  vote  to  keep 
the  Republicans  in  control  of  the  national  government. 
Many  of  these  doubtless  valued  the  party  organization 
mainly  as  a  means  of  self-advancement;  while  others  like 
Sumner  devoutly  believed  that  in  the  Republican  party  lay 
the  sole  hope  of  justice  and  freedom.  To  the  North  gen 
erally,  the  convincing  argument  for  negro  suffrage  was  that 
the  ballot  would  give  the  black  man  the  necessary  weapon 
for  self-protection.  On  this  ground  Mr.  Schurz  favored 
it  in  his  report  of  1865,  and  in  reviewing  the  situation  in 
1904  he  holds  the  same  opinion.  The  assumption  in  this 
view  was  that  the  freedmen  and  the  former  master  class 
were,  and  were  to  remain,  natural  enemies.  Looking  back 
to  slavery,  which  really  combined  an  element  of  oppression 
with  an  element  of  protection,  the  North  saw  only  the  op 
pression.  Viewing  the  present,  it  was  not  merely  the  State 
laws,  but  the  frequent  personal  abuse  of  the  negroes  which 
confirmed  the  idea  that  they  must  have  the  ballot  for  self- 
protection. 

On  broader  grounds,  the  question  was  reasoned  thus: 
"  The  logical,  the  necessary  ultimate  step  in  the  negro's  ele 
vation  to  full  manhood  is  his  possession  of  the  vote.  By  far 
the  most  desirable  road  to  this  consummation  would  be 
a  gradual  and  educational  introduction  of  the  body  of 
freedmen  to  the  franchise.  But  toward  such  a  course  the 
South  shows  no  inclination.  The  alternative  remains — in 
the  brief  period  during  which  the  national  authority  can 
be  applied  to  organic  reconstruction — of  establishing  uni 
versal  manhood  suffrage;  with  the  drawback  of  a  present 
admixture  of  a  large  ignorant  and  unfit  element ;  with 
the  great  disadvantage,  too,  of  further  alienating  the  two 
races  for  the  present ;  but  with  the  possibility  and  hope  that 


310  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  exercise  of  the  ballot  will  in  itself  prove  educational, 
and  that  the  Southern  white  man  and  Southern  negro  will 
ultimately  fare  better  than  if  the  one  is  allowed  to  perma 
nently  disfranchise  the  other."  Something  like  this,  ap 
parently,  whether  wise  or  unwise,  was  the  predominant 
judgment  of  the  better  class  at  the  North. 

With  others  the  argument  was  simpler.  Elaine  in  his 
Twenty  Years  gives  a  common  sentiment,  himself  in 
1884  still  concurring  in  it:  "The  North  believed,  and  be 
lieved  wisely,  that  a  poor  man,  an  ignorant  man,  and  a 
black  man,  who  was  thoroughly  loyal,  was  a  safer  and 
better  voter  than  a  rich  man,  an  educated  man,  and  a  white 
man,  who  in  his  heart  was  disloyal  to  the  Union."  The 
Republican,  on  the  contrary,  expressed  the  opinion :  "  It 
is  better  to  be  governed  by  ex-rebels  than  by  fools." 

The  Fourteenth  Amendment  had  been  put  forward  vir 
tually  as  an  invitation.  It  was  rejected  by  the  South,  and 
the  new  plan — military  government,  to  give  place  to  new 
constitutions  with  universal  suffrage — was  issued  as  a 
mandate.  It  was  promptly  carried  out.  In  little  more  than 
a  twelvemonth,  the  Carolinas,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama, 
Louisiana,  and  Arkansas  had  been  reconstructed ;  their 
State  organizations  were  provisionally  accepted  by  Con 
gress  in  June,  1868;  and  as  their  Legislatures  at  once 
ratified  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  and  secured  its  adoption, 
they  were  fully  restored  and  their  senators  and  representa 
tives  admitted  in  July.  Virginia  and  Mississippi  managed 
to  stave  off  final  action,  hoping  to  escape  the  excluding 
clauses,  until  after  Grant's  election  to  the  Presidency  in 
1868;  and  their  hopes  were  justified  when  Grant  gave  his 
influence  successfully  with  Congress  against  the  excluding 
clauses ;  so  that  these  two  States,  with  belated  Texas,  were 
reorganized  in  the  following  year  and  admitted  early  in 
1870.  Georgia  had  troubles  of  her  own,  and  a  suspension 


Reconstruction:     The  Final  Plan        311 

by  Congress  from  full  statehood  for  half  a  year;  and  her 
final  admission,  on  July  15,  1870,  marked  definitely  the 
end  of  the  reconstruction  process.  The  registration  of 
voters  in  the  ten  States  had  shown  that  in  Alabama,  Florida, 
Louisiana,  Mississippi,  and  South  Carolina,  the  colored 
voters  were  in  a  majority;  in  Georgia,  the  two  races  were 
about  equal;  and  in  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Arkansas 
and  Texas,  one-third  or  more  were  colored.  The  pre 
ponderance  of  voting  power  had  been  given  to  a  people 
just  out  of  slavery.  The  practical  working  of  the  plan, 
and  the  six  further  years  of  Federal  supervision  over  the 
South,  belong  to  another  chapter. 

An  episode  in  this  story,  though  an  important  feature 
in  a  general  history,  must  be  the  impeachment  of  President 
Johnson  in  the  spring  of  1868.  Though  the  main  questions 
at  issue  were  definitely  settled,  the  bitterness  between  the 
President  and  Congress  lasted  and  increased.  At  the  same 
time  with  the  final  reconstruction  measure,  there  was 
passed  the  "  Tenure  of  Office  bill,"  which  took  away  from 
the  President  the  power  of  removing  his  subordinates  which 
all  his  predecessors  had  enjoyed,  and  required  the  Senate's 
concurrence  in  removals  as  in  appointments.  Some  excep 
tion  was  made  as  to  Cabinet  officers ;  and  the  President,  ex 
asperated  beyond  endurance  by  Stanton,  after  vainly, 
though  reasonably,  asking  the  Senate  to  relieve  him  of  his 
hostile  secretary,  assumed  the  right  to  remove  him  by  his 
own  authority,  and  appointed  Gen.  Lorenzo  Thomas  in 
his  place,  February  21,  1868.  The  House,  in  which  the 
radical  temper  had  grown  stronger  than  ever,  in  a  blaze 
of  excitement  voted  the  President's  impeachment.  He  was 
tried  before  the  Senate,  the  House  prosecutors  being  led 
by  Stevens,  Boutwell,  and  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  whose  vin 
dictive  and  unscrupulous  personality  had  come  to  the  front. 
The  President  was  defended  by  a  group  of  the  foremost 


312  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

lawyers  in  the  country,  including  Benjamin  R.  Curtis, 
Jeremiah  S.  Black,  and  William  M.  Evarts.  The  only 
weighty  article  in  the  charge  was  that  concerning  Stanton's 
removal,  and  upon  this  a  legal  defense  was  made  which  now 
seems  conclusive.  But  it  has  been  justly  said  that  the  Presi 
dent  was  on  trial  nominally  for  one  class  of  offenses,  but 
practically  for  another — namely,  his  persistent  opposition 
to  the  policy  of  Congress.  Party  loyalty  was  invoked  for 
his  condemnation;  the  general  temper  of  the  North  was 
hot  against  him;  wrath  and  tribulation  were  predicted  for 
any  Republican  senator  who  should  vote  for  his  acquittal. 
In  face  of  the  storm,  there  were  a  few  who  quietly  let  it 
be  known  or  surmised  that  they  should  vote  in  their  ca 
pacity  as  judges  sworn  to  follow  the  law  and  the  facts, 
whatever  the  political  consequences.  The  decisive  hour 
came,  May  16,  and  the  result  no  one  could  predict;  the 
Democratic  senators  and  the  four  administration  Repub 
licans  all  would  sustain  the  President ;  seven  additional 
votes  would  prevent  the  decisive  two-thirds  condemnation. 
Man  after  man,  Fessenden,  Fowler,  Grimes,  Henderson, 
Ross,  Van  Winkle,  and  Trumbull — Republicans  all — voted 
"  Not  guilty " ;  and,  by  nineteen  to  thirty-five,  President 
Johnson  escaped  deposition — to  get  rid  of  Stanton  finally, 
and  finish  his  term ;  to  return  to  the  Senate  from  Tennessee ; 
to  take  his  place  in  history  as  an  honest  and  patriotic  man, 
beyond  his  proper  sphere,  whose  limitations  worked  a  part 
in  the  partial  failure  of  reconstruction.  The  country 
escaped  a  dangerous  dislocation  of  the  relation  of  Con 
gress  and  the  executive,  and  the  triumph  of  an  exaggerated 
radicalism.  The  seven  independent  senators  sacrificed 
their  future  careers,  and  deserve  the  perpetual  gratitude 
of  their  country. 

And  now  it  remained  for  the  nation,  through  a  Presi 
dential  election,  to  pass  upon  the  completed  work.     In  the 


Reconstruction:     The  Final  Plan        313 

Democratic  convention  at  New  York,  in  July,  1868,  the 
reactionary  and  the  progressive  elements  strove.  A  new 
Democracy  was  growing,  intent  on  administrative  reform 
and  moderate  Constitutionalism ;  Samuel  J.  Tilden  of  New 
York  and  his  allies  were  among  the  leaders;  their  candi 
date  was  Chief  Justice  Chase.  Only  the  incongruity  with 
his  judicial  position  marred  the  fitness  of  Chase's  candi 
dacy.  Lincoln,  though  he  had  his  own  troubles  in  dealing 
with  him,  said,  "  Of  all  the  great  men  I  have  known,  Chase 
is  equal  to  about  one  and  a  half  of  the  best  of  them."  He 
had  proved  eminent  on  the  bench  as  in  the  Cabinet,  and 
under  his  lead  the  Supreme  Court  gave  a  series  of  con 
servative  decisions  on  reconstruction  questions  which  were 
a  most  valuable  contribution  to  the  national  stability  and 
security — a  vital,  though  not  to  the  popular  eye  a  con 
spicuous  service  in  the  reconstruction  period.  Against  him, 
the  candidacy  of  George  H.  Pendleton  of  Ohio  represented 
the  element  historically  unfriendly  to  the  war  for  the  Union, 
and  intensely  opposed  to  the  reconstruction  measures.  He 
had  the  support  of  the  Southern  delegates,  present  in  full 
force,  and  lending  to  the  cheering  the  dominant  note  of  the 
well-known  "  rebel  yell."  The  reactionists  got  their  own 
way  with  the  resolutions,  which  declared  the  reconstruc 
tion  acts  to  be  "  unconstitutional,  revolutionary,  and  void." 
On  the  new  question  which  was  looming  up,  of  shirking 
the  national  debt  by  payment  in  promises,  the  platform 
leaned  strongly  toward  repudiation.  Pendleton's  support 
ers,  seeing  their  candidate  could  not  win,  and  determined 
that  the  other  Ohio  man,  Chase,  should  not  win,  thwarted 
their  New  York  opponents  by  a  clever  trick,  and  success 
fully  rushed  through  the  convention  the  nomination  of  its 
presiding  officer,  Horatio  Seymour  of  New  York,  against 
his  protest  and  to  the  discomfiture  of  his  associates.  An 
able,  accomplished  man,  but  reckoned  half-hearted  in  the 


314  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

war,  and  not  rising  to  statesmanlike  proportions,  he  could 
not  outweigh  the  mischievous  platform  and  the  Vice-Presi- 
dental  candidate,  the  hot-headed  Gen.  Francis  P.  Blair 
of  Missouri,  who  had  just  proposed  measures  nothing  short 
of  revolutionary  to  override  Congress.  Against  this  com 
bination  the  Republicans  advanced  securely  to  victory. 
Meeting  in  Chicago  in  May,  they  showed  a  temper  more 
moderate  than  that  of  Congress;  they  of  course  con 
demned  the  President,  but  they  refused  to  censure  the 
seven  independent  senators;  and  upon  Carl  Schurz's  mo 
tion  passed  a  resolution  welcoming  back  all  former  enemies 
now  become  loyal,  and  favoring  the  early  and  rapid  re 
moval  of  disabilities.  As  to  the  Presidential  nomination, 
there  was  no  division, — it  was  given  unhesitatingly, 
unanimously,  heartily,  to  General  Grant.  His  steadfastness 
and  success  in  war  had  been  matched  by  his  magnanimity 
in  victory  and  his  prudence  in  the  troubled  times  that  fol 
lowed.  Of  manly  simplicity  and  solid  worth,  sagacious 
and  successful  wherever  he  had  been  tried,  he  seemed  at 
once  an  embodiment  of  past  victory  and  an  assurance  of 
future  safety.  Of  the  thirty-four  States  that  voted,  all  but 
eight  were  for  Grant  and  Colfax.  Seymour  had  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Kentucky,  Ore 
gon,  Georgia,  and  Louisiana.  The  popular  vote  was  3,012,- 
ooo  for  Grant  and  Colfax  to  2,703,000  for  Seymour  and 
Blair. 

The  Republican  convention  had  shirked  the  question  of 
negro  suffrage  at  the  North  by  referring  it  to  the  individual 
States.  Its  refusal  in  many  of  the  Northern  States  was  felt 
as  a  discredit  after  it  had  been  enforced  throughout  the 
South.  The  Republicans  in  Congress  took  courage  from 
the  election.  The  Fifteenth  Amendment,  forbidding  the 
States  to  deny  the  right  to  vote  "  on  account  of  race,  color 
or  previous  condition  of  servitude,"  was  brought  forward 


Reconstruction:     The  Final  Plan        315 

in  Congress  in  December,  and  passed  February  28,  1869. 
It  was  ratified  in  rapid  succession  by  thirty  States  out  of 
thirty-seven, — Tennessee  not  acting,  and  negative  votes 
being  given  by  California,  Delaware,  Kentucky,  Mary 
land,  New  Jersey,  and  Oregon, — and  proclaimed  as  adopted, 
March  30,  1870. 

With  Grant's  election,  and  the  last  touches  of  recon 
struction  sure  to  follow  close,  the  North,  as  it  were,  drew 
a  deep  breath  of  relief.  It  felt  that  the  fundamental  issues 
were  settled.  The  war  had  preserved  the  Union  and  de 
stroyed  slavery.  The  consummation  had  been  fitly  rounded 
out  by  the  changes  in  the  Constitution.  The  Southern  States 
were  restored  to  their  places.  Vast  tides  of  material  ad 
vance  were  setting  in.  New  questions  were  rising,  new 
ideas  were  fermenting.  Good-bye  to  the  past, — so  felt  the 
North, — to  its  injustice  and  its  strife.  As  the  nation's 
chieftain  had  said,  in  accepting  the  call  to  the  nation's 
Presidency,  "  Let  us  have  peace." 


CHAPTER   XXXIII 

RECONSTRUCTION:    THE  WORKING  OUT 

So  the  North  turned  cheerfully  to  its  own  affairs — and 
very  engrossing  affairs  they  were — and  the  South  faced 
its  new  conditions.  It  was  still  struggling  with  the  eco 
nomic  wreckage  left  by  four  years  of  battle,  invasion  and 
defeat.  It  had  borne  the  loss  of  its  separate  nationality  and 
the  flag  endeared  by  countless  sacrifices.  It  had  accepted 
the  sudden  emancipation  of  its  servile  class  by  the  con 
queror's  hand.  It  had  been  encouraged  by  President  John 
son  to  resume  with  little  change  its  old  ways  of  govern 
ment.  For  two  years  it  had  gone  along  precariously  with 
State  organizations  of  the  earlier  pattern,  subject  to  oc 
casional  interruption  by  military  authority  or  officials  of 
the  Freedmen's  Bureau.  Then,  in  1867,  all  State  govern 
ments  were  set  aside,  and  military  rule  pure  and  simple 
held  the  field, — in  most  States  for  about  fifteen  months;  in 
Mississippi,  Texas  and  Virginia,  by  their  own  choice,  for 
as  much  longer.  Though  as  it  was  generally  administered 
the  military  government  was  just,  as  well  as  economical, 
yet  its  maintenance  was  a  bitter  ordeal  for  a  people  with 
the  American  political  habit ;  a  people,  too,  who  had  fought 
gallantly  for  four  years;  who  had,  upon  accepting  their 
defeat,  been  assured  that  the  object  of  their  conqueror  was 
attained  in  restoring  them  to  their  old  position,  except  for 
emancipation  of  the  slaves;  and  who  now  for  a  year  or 
two  longer  were  held  under  martial  law. 

At  last — for  most  of  tnem  in  mid-summer  of  1868 — they 
were  again  restored  to  self-government  of  the  American 

316 


Reconstruction:     The  Working  Out      317 

pattern.  Self-government  for  all,  thought  the  North  com 
placently;  whites  and  blacks  were  equal,  not  only  as  sub 
jects  of  the  law  but  as  makers  of  the  law ;  and  so  freedom 
and  democracy  were  established.  But  the  Southern  whites 
asked  in  dismay,  What  kind  of  fellow-lawmakers  have  we 
got?  The  question  answered  itself.  The  million  or  so  of  - 
new  voters  were  most  of  them  ignoranjjin  a  sense  of  which^C" 
illiteracy  gives  but  a  hint.  They  were  unversed  even  in 
genuine  family  life ;  skilled  only  in  manual  industry ;  un- 
practiced  in  citizenship ;  utterly  untaught  in  the  principles, 
the  facts  of  history,  the  theory  and  art  of  self-government, 
which  make  up  the  proper  equipment  of  the  voter.  A  great 
part  of  them,  field  hands  on  the  great  cotton  and  sugar 
plantations,  were  rude  and  degraded,  trained  to  live  solely 
under  close  and  constant  control. 

How  were  the  whites  to  deal  with  these  new-made  voters  ? 
From  the  standpoint  of  expediency,  three  courses  offered, — 
to  conciliate  and  educate  them ;  to  outvote  them  by  massing 
the  whites  together;  or  to  suppress  them  by  force  or  fraud. 
From  the  standpoint  of  unregenerate  human  nature,  the 
whites  as  a  body  at  first  took  none  of  these  courses, — they 
stood  apart  from  the  whole  business  of  politics,  in  wrath  and 
scorn.  Unregenerate  perhaps,  but  most  natural,  most  hu 
man!  At  first,  some  crude  policy  mingled  with  the  senti 
ment  that  kept  them  aloof;  there  was  the  hope  that  if  the 
whites  generally  abstained  from  voting,  at  the  elections 
held  in  November,  1867,  to  pass  on  the  question  whether 
to  hold  constitutional  conventions,  the  proposal  might  fail 
for  want  of  the  requisite  majority  of  the  registered  voters. 
It  was  a  fallacious  hope;  suppose  the  conventions  were  to 
fail,  what  better  terms  were  now  to  be  expected  from  Con 
gress?  But  the  conventions  were  all  held;  and  as  in  the 
same  spirit  most  of  the  whites  refused  to  vote  for  dele 
gates,  these  were  chosen  from  the  negroes,  their  friends 


318  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

from  the  North,  and  the  few  Southern  whites  who  accepted 
the  inevitable. 

Is  it  not  the  wisest,  the  manliest  course,  to  accept  the 
inevitable?  So  asked  General  Longstreet,  in  a  letter  to  a 
friend,  June  3,  1867.  He  had  just  listened  to  Senator  Wil 
son,  and  had  been  surprised  by  his  fairness  and  frankness. 
For  himself  he  says,  "  I  will  be  happy  to  work  in  any  har 
ness  that  promises  relief  to  our  discomfited  people,  whether 
bearing  the  mantle  of  Mr.  Davis  or  Mr.  Sumner."  Negro 
suffrage  is  for  the  present  an  established  fact;  if  after  a 
fair  trial  it  works  disastrously,  we  will  appeal  to  Congress 
to  repeal  it.  "  If  every  one  will  meet  the  crisis  with  proper 
appreciation  of  our  condition  and  obligations,  the  sun  will 
rise  to-morrow  on  a  happy  people."  But  his  words  fell  on 
deaf  ears,  and  when  he  acted  with  the  Republicans  he  was 
visited  with  ostracism,  denunciation,  and  attack  upon  his 
war  record.  The  typical  attitude,  at  first,  was  that  of  the 
planter  who,  after  listening  to  a  discussion  of  the  final 
reconstruction  act,  inquired,  "  Does  it  say  anything  about 
raising  cotton  ?  "  "  No."  "  Then,  damn  Congress  and  its 
laws !  I'm  going  to  raise  cotton."  So  he  and  a  good  many 
others  gave  themselves  to  raising  cotton,  and  for  a  while 
left  the  choice  of  State  officers  and  legislators  to  "  niggers," 
"  carpet-baggers,"  and  "  scalawags."  A  "  scalawag  "  was 
any  Southern  white  who  allied  himself  politically  with  the 
negroes,  and  a  "  carpet-bagger "  was  a  Northern  adven 
turer,  for  whose  worldly  goods  a  gripsack  sufficed, — or,  in 
general,  any  Northerner  whatever. 

For  the  blacks,  the  sudden  opening  of  political  power  and 
preferment,  however  designed,  was  in  effect  a  very  doubt 
ful  benefit.  It  turned  their  hopes  and  aspirations  in  a  way 
which  was  really  "  no  thoroughfare."  To  the  more  prom 
ising  and  ambitious  it  offered  sudden  and  brilliant  prizes, 
instead  of  the  patient  apprenticeship  which  they  needed. 


Reconstruction:     The  Working  Out     319 

Of  those  who  quickly  rose  to  office,  a  few  were  by  character 
and  attainments  really  fit  for  their  position ;  many  won  favor 
by  shallow  arts;  and  others  were  thrown  up  like  driftwood 
by  the  tide.  The  negroes  as  a  body  could  follow  only  a 
personal  leadership, — how  many  whites,  North  or  South, 
really  follow  any  other? — could  be  organized  in  bodies, 
attached  to  a  party  name  and  watchwords,  and  voted  in 
mass  by  the  men  who  had  their  confidence.  They  under 
stood  that  their  freedom  and  their  right  to  vote  had  been 
given  them  by  the  North  and  by  the  Republican  party, 
and  to  that  party  they  naturally  turned.  Their  old  masters 
— in  many  cases  their  best  friends — frankly  told  them  they 
were  unfit  to  vote,  and  wanted  no  dealings  with  them  in 
political  affairs.  So  they  found  leadership  principally  in 
the  men  who  had  come  from  the  North. 

There  was  a  Northern  immigration  which  may  be  classi 
fied  as  business  men,  teachers  and  adventurers.  A  con 
siderable  number  sought  an  opportunity  in  reviving  and 
developing  industry, — substantial  men  and  good  citizens. 
Sometimes  a  patriotic  motive  mingled  with  the  industrial. 
Governor  Andrew,  on  retiring  to  private  life  as  a  lawyer, 
tried  for  some  time  to  advance  a  company  for  bringing 
into  conjunction  Southern  lands  and  Northern  enterprise 
and  capital.  There  were  various  projects  of  this  kind,  but 
they  met  with  little  success.  Private  individuals,  however, 
added  something  to  the  industrial  and  civic  forces  of  the 
South.  A  larger  class  were  the  teachers.  Men  and  women 
by  hundreds  went  to  the  South,  some  sent  by  missionary 
organizations,  some  independently,  to  organize  schools 
and  to  teach  the  children  of  the  freedmen.  Many  of  them 
were  of  the  highest  character,  devoted,  self-sacrificing, 
going  to  the  blacks  simply  because  they  supposed  their  need 
was  greatest.  But  Beecher's  warning  proved  sound — be 
cause  as  a  whole  this  movement  took  the  negroes  as  a 


320  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

distinct  field,  ignoring  the  needs  of  the  whites,  it  incurred 
odium  as  an  alien  and  half-hostile  work.  The  barbaric  ele 
ment  among  the  whites — and  slavery  had  left  a  deep  taint  of 
barbarism — came  out  at  its  worst  in  insults  to  the  "  nigger 
teachers,"  with  occasional  burning  of  a  school-house.  The 
better  social  elements  looked  askance  at  those  whose  pres 
ence  was  a  reminder  of  conquest  and  humiliation. 

From  the  business  and  the  educational  immigration,  a 
few  Northern  men  were  drawn  into  public  affairs,  less  by 
choice  than  by  necessity  of  the  situation.  With  these 
mingled  a  different  class,  men  who  had  been  disreputable 
hangers-on  of  the  army  or  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  or  who 
had  come  for  the  sole  purpose  of  plunder.  It  was  a  very 
mixed  company  of  whites  and  blacks  that  made  up  the  con 
ventions  and  then  filled  the  legislative  halls  and  the  public 
offices.  The  constitutions  were  not  badly  framed,  except 
as  they,  for  the  most  part,  continued  the  exclusive  clauses. 
The  general  legislation  was  various  in  its  character.  There 
were  some  excellent  features,  above  all  the  institution  in 
every  State  of  a  genuine  public  school  system,  where  before 
there  had  been  only  makeshifts  or  make-believes.  Some 
other  good  constructive  work  was  done,  toward  establish 
ing  society  on  the  new  basis.  Certainly  nothing  was  en 
acted  so  bad  as  the  "  black  codes  "  of  a  few  years  earlier, 
not  to  speak  of  the  legislation  under  slavery.  There  were 
some  unsuccessful  attempts  at  engrafting  institutions,  like 
the  township  system,  which  had  worked  well  in  their  native 
soil  but  could  not  be  created  out  of  hand.  In  general  the 
white  leadership  of  the  dominant  party  averted  much  that 
might  have  been  expected  from  the  ignorance  of  its  legisla 
tors  as  a  mass.  But  plenty  of  waste  and  mischief  was 
wrought.  Place  a  crowd  of  hungry  and  untaught  men 
next  the  public  treasury  with  the  lid  off,  and  some  results 
are  sure.  The  men  will  not  be  safer  guardians  of  the 


Reconstruction:     The  Working  Out     321 

treasure  for  having  had  for  most  of  their  lives  no  property 
rights  of  their  own,  not  even  the  ownership  of  their  own 
souls  and  bodies.  Yet  most  of  the  plunder  seems  to  have 
gone  into  the  pockets  of  knaves  of  the  superior  race.  There 
was  a  degree  of  extravagance,  waste  and  corruption,  vary 
ing  greatly  with  localities  and  times,  but  sufficient  to  leave 
a  permanent  discredit  on  the  Southern  Republican  govern 
ments  as  a  class.  To  judge  accurately  of  the  merits  and 
demerits  of  these  governments  is  perhaps  as  difficult  a 
task  as  historian  ever  undertook.  So  fierce  is  the  passion 
which  invests  these  events  in  the  memory  of  the  present 
generation,  that  it  is  almost  hopeless  to  sift  and  adjudicate 
the  sober  facts.  Time  has  softened  much;  even  the  Civil 
War  begins  to  stand  forth  in  some  firmness  of  outline  and 
clarity  of  atmosphere.  But  when  we  come  to  reconstruc 
tion — grave  historians  grow  almost  hysterical,  romancers 
pass  the  bounds  of  possibilities,  and  even  official  figures 
contradict  one  another  with  sublime  effrontery. 

Yet  this  very  passion  of  remembrance,  which  in  one  way 
obscures,  in  another  way  illuminates  the  historical  situation. 
The  grievance  most  profoundly  felt  in  the  reconstruction 
period  was  not  unwise  laws  nor  waste  of  public  money 
nor  oppressive  taxes.  It  was  the  consciousness  by  the 
master  class  of  political  subjection  to  the  servile  class.  It 
was  the  spectacle  of  rude  blacks,  yesterday  picking  cotton 
or  driving  mules,  sitting  in  the  legislators'  seats  and  execu 
tive  offices  of  Richmond  and  Columbia,  holding  places  of 
power  among  the  people  of  Lee  and  Calhoun.  Fancy  the 
people  of  Massachusetts,  were  the  state-house  on  Beacon 
hill  suddenly  occupied  by  Italian,  Polish  and  Russian  la 
borers, — placed  and  kept  there  by  a  foreign  conqueror. 
Add  to  the  comparison  the  prouder  height  of  the  slave 
holder,  and  the  lower  depth  of  his  serf.  Put  this  as  the  case 
of  a  people  high-strung  and  sensitive,  still  fresh  from  the 


322  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

passion  of  war,  still  smarting  from  defeat.  They  had 
fought  to  exhaustion,  and  their  banner  had  fallen  without 
disgrace.  Now  the  victors  who  had  won  by  superiority 
of  force  had  placed  their  late  bondmen  as  their  rulers.  The 
offices  from  which  their  own  captains  and  chiefs  were  shut 
out  were  filled  by  plantation  field-hands. 

It  was  not  likely  that  the  first  attitude  of  scornful  passiv 
ity  would  long  continue,  and  it  did  not.  The  warnings 
vainly  uttered  beforehand, — that  the  natural  leaders  would 
surely  lead,  and  had  best  be  won  as  allies,  were  proved 
right  when  it  was  too  late.  Said  the  Republican,  August 
10,  1868,  in  protesting  against  the  plan  of  the  party  man 
agers  in  organizing  the  Southern  wing  to  consist  mainly 
of  the  blacks :  "  The  Republican  party  cannot  long  main 
tain  its  supremacy  at  the  South  by  negro  votes  alone. 
The  instincts  of  submission  and  dependence  in  them  and 
of  domination  in  the  whites,  are  too  strong  to  permit  such 
a  reversal  of  the  familiar  relations  and  the  natural  order. 
The  slave-holding  element  has  learned  to  combine,  con 
spire  and  command,  in  the  best  school  on  earth,  and  they 
will  certainly  come  to  the  top.  Nor  is  it  desirable  that 
such  a  state  of  things  should  continue." 

The  old  official  class  being  excluded — to  the  number, 
it  was  estimated,  of  160,000, — and  the  stand-aloof  policy, 
or  drift  rather,  prevailing  in  the  political  field,  it  was  the 
more  lawless  element  that  first  began  to  conspicuously  assert 
the  white  supremacy.  There  grew  up  an  organization 
called  "the  Ku-Klux  Klan,"  designed  at  first  partly 
as  a  rough  sport  and  masquerade,  partly  to  overawe 
the  negroes.  There  were  midnight  ridings  in  spec 
tral  disguises,  warnings,  alarms  and  presently  whippings 
and  even  murders.  The  society,  or  imitations  of  it, 
spread  over  most  of  the  South.  It  was  at  its  height  in 
1868-70,  and  in  the  latter  year  it  gradually  gave  way, 


Reconstruction:     The  Working  Out     323 

partly  owing  to  vigorous  measures  ordered  from  Washing 
ton,  and  partly  perhaps  as  legitimate  political  combina 
tions  again  occupied  the  whites.  But  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
throughout  the  decade  of  reconstruction,  though  the  present 
fashion  is  to  lay  exclusive  stress  on  the  wrong-doing  of 
the  negroes  and  their  friends,  yet  the  physical  violence,  fre 
quent  and  widespread,  was  almost  wholly  practiced  by  the 
whites. 

From  the  political  torpor,  due  to  discouragement  and 
resentment,  there  was  an  early  recovery.  When  it  was 
found  that  cotton-planting  pure  and  simple,  with  ignoring 
of  politics,  resulted  in  heavy  taxes  for  the  planter ;  when  to 
the  first  numbness  there  succeeded  the  active  smart, — the 
whites  betook  themselves  to  the  resource  which  in  most 
States  soon  proved  adequate, — the  ballot,  and  political  com 
bination.  In  several  States  the  whites  were  easily  in  the 
majority,  and  where  they  were  slightly  outnumbered  their 
superior  intelligence  soon  gave  them  the  advantage.  In 
Georgia,  finally  readmitted  at  the  end  of  1869,  the  Demo 
crats — constituting  the  great  body  of  the  whites — carried 
the  election  in  the  next  year,  and  remained  in  control  of 
the  State.  Virginia,  which  had  advisedly  kept  under  mili 
tary  rule  until,  with  President  Grant's  aid,  she  came  in 
without  the  excluding  clauses,  early  in  1870,  passed  at  once 
under  Democratic  rule.  In  the  same  year  North  Carolina 
became  Democratic.  Texas  and  Arkansas  remained  under 
Republican  sway  until  the  majority  shifted  to  the  Demo 
crats  in  1874.  In  Alabama,  the  Democrats  gained  the 
Governorship  and  the  lower  House  as  early  as  1870;  two 
years  later  the  result  was  disputed,  the  Democrats  conced 
ing  the  Governor  but  claiming  the  Legislature,  while  the 
Republicans  organized  a  rival  Legislature;  the  Repub 
lican  Governor-elect  called  for  United  States  troops, 
which  were  promptly  dispatched,  arid  with  their  backing  a 


324  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

Republican  Legislature  was  secured.  In  1874  a  Democratic 
Governor  and  Legislature  were  chosen  and  installed  without 
dispute.  The  Federal  interference  in  Alabama,  and  the 
experience  of  others  of  the  reconstructed  States, — South 
Carolina,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana, — recalls  us  to  that 
phase  of  the  history  which  deals  with  Washington  and  the 
national  government. 

Through  the  eight  years  of  Grant's  administration,  the 
public  life  of  the  nation  was  concerned  mainly  with  clear 
ing  away  the  wreckage  left  by  the  war.  There  was  an 
enormous  debt  to  be  handled  and  an  inflated  currency  to 
be  reduced ;  there  was  to  be  curbed  administrative  extrava 
gance  and  corruption,  bred  of  profuse  expenditure ;  a  bitter 
quarrel  with  England  was  to  be  guided  toward  war  or 
peace;  and  the  disordered  South  was  to  be  composed. 
These  tasks  were  encountered  by  men  whose  habits  and 
sentiments  had  been  formed  in  a  long  and  desperate  con 
test,  and  in  an  atmosphere  slowly  cooling  from  the  fiery 
glow  of  battle.  The  soldier  had  to  beat  his  sword  into  a 
plowshare,  and  small  wonder  if  the  blacksmithing  was 
sometimes  clumsy. 

Grant  was  too  completely  a  soldier  to  be  changed  into 
a  statesman.  He  could  deal  with  a  definite,  limited,  though 
gigantic  business, — the  overcoming  of  the  armies  of  the 
Confederacy.  But  it  was  beyond  his  power  to  comprehend 
and  master  the  manifold  and  intricate  problems  that  center 
in  the  Presidency.  Given  a  specific,  well-defined  question, 
within  the  reach  of  his  sturdy  sense  and  loyal  purpose,  and 
he  could  deal  with  it  to  good  effect,  as  he  did  with  the 
English  arbitration  and  the  Inflation  bill.  But  he  was  in 
capable  of  far-reaching  and  constructive  plans  carefully 
laid  and  patiently  pursued.  When  he  communicated  to 
Congress  the  adoption  of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment,  he 
urged  in  wise  and  forcible  language  that  the  new  electorate 


Reconstruction:     The  Working  Out     325 

could  only  be  qualified  through  education,  and  that  to  pro 
vide  such  education  was  a  pressing  duty  of  Congress  so  far 
as  its  power  extended,  and  of  the  people  through  all  the 
agencies  it  could  command.  But  having  once  said  this, 
lie  let  the  subject  drop.  National  education  for  the  freed- 
men  was  left  unnoticed,  save  by  an  occasional  lonely  advo 
cate  like  Sumner.  Nor  did  President  Grant  take  any  per 
sonal  and  positive  measures  to  win  and  hold  the  old  South 
to  the  new  order;  he  failed  to  invite  and  consult  its  repre 
sentative  men,  he  made  no  journeys  among  the  people. 

In  most  matters  of  public  policy,  save  in  emergencies, 
Grant  let  matters  be  shaped  by  the  men  whom  he  had  taken 
into  his  counsel — in  his  official  Cabinet  or  the  "  kitchen 
cabinet " — and  by  the  Republican  leaders  in  Congress,  of 
whom  the  controlling  group,  especially  in  the  Senate,  were 
in  close  touch  with  the  White  House.  His  affiliations  were 
with  men  of  material  power,  men  who  had  strongly  admin 
istered  civil  or  military  affairs,  stout  partisans,  faithful 
friends  and  vigorous  haters.  His  tastes  did  not  draw  him 
to  the  idealists,  the  scholars,  the  reformers.  He  was  access 
ible  to  good  fellowship,  he  was  easily  imposed  on  by  men 
who  were  seeking  their  own  ends,  and  he  was  very  slow  to 
abandon  any  one  whom  he  had  once  trusted.  Absolutely 
honest,  the  thieves  stole  all  round  him.  Magnanimous  at 
heart,  the  bitter  partisans  often  made  him  their  tool.  Of  the 
great  questions  of  the  time,  the  English  quarrel  was  brought 
to  an  admirable  healing,  under  the  management  of  the 
Secretary  of  State,  Hamilton  Fish,  in  1871,  by  the  joint 
high  commission,  the  treaty  of  Washington,  and  the  Geneva 
award.  In  the  long  contest  for  a  sound  currency,  the 
inflation  policy  received  its  death-blow  by  the  President's 
veto  in  1874,  and  resumption  was  undertaken  when  Sher 
man  carried  his  bill  through  Congress  in  1875.  As  to 
honesty  of  administration,  the  president's  good  intentions 


326  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

were  constantly  baffled  through  his  misplaced  and  tenacious 
confidences.  The  vast  expenditures  of  the  war,  the  cheating 
incident  to  its  great  contracts,  the  speculation  favored  by 
a  fluctuating  currency,  the  huge  enterprises  invited  by  the 
return  of  peace, — had  infected  private  and  public  life  with 
a  kind  of  fever ;  the  treasury  was  an  easy  mark ;  and  while 
the  people  held  to  Grant  for  his  personal  honesty,  and 
re-elected  him,  an  army  of  rogues  throve  under  his  lax 

administration. 
•vUbttto* 

The  Te£€Tone  policy  toward  the  South,  to  which  Grant 

was  prolffipftJ  Iboth  by  his  virtues  and  his  limitations,  would 
not  on  the  whole  have  been  unacceptable  to  the  mass  of  the 
Southern  whites.  Left  wholly  to  themselves,  those  States 
would  soon  have  righted  themselves  from  the  unstable 
equilibrium  in  which  they  had  been  placed  by  the  imposition 
of  an  ignorant  electorate.  Natural  forces, — just  or  unjust, 
benignant  or  cruel, — would  soon  have  reversed  the  order. 
But  the  nation  at  large  would  not  at  once  abandon  its  pro 
tectorate  over  its  recent  wards,  the  freedmen.  For  their 
greatest  need,  education,  it  assumed  no  responsibility.  But 
when  stories  were  rife  of  abuse  and  terrorism  under  the 
masquerade  of  the  Ku-Klux,  Congress  interfered,  even  if 
by  some  stretch  of  its  constitutional  power,  to  bring  the 
raiders  under  the  arm  of  Federal  law.  When  elections  were 
reported  to  be  controlled  by  fraud  and  intimidation,  it 
seemed  incumbent  on  the  national  government  to  protect 
the  ballot-box  by  which  its  own  members  were  chosen. 
When  rival  bodies  claimed  each  to  be  the  legitimate  govern 
ment  of  a  State,  it  was  necessary  for  the  Washington 
authorities  to  decide  which  they  would  recognize,  and  it  was 
a  natural  sequence  to  back  their  decision  by  the  military 
force.  And  in  all  of  these  cases,  the  maintenance  of  law  and 
order  easily  became  confused  with  the  support  of  factions 
allied  politically  with  the  party  in  power  at  Washington. 


Reconstruction:     The  Working  Out     327 

As  the  Southern  Republicans  were  gradually  outvoted  or 
overpowered  at  home,  their  appeals  for  help  from  the  gen 
eral  government  became  more  urgent,  while  the  continuance 
of  such  interference  became  more  questionable  to  thought 
ful  men. 

Before  this  state  of  things,  there  was  a  gradual  division 
of  opinion  among  Republicans  at  the  North,  and  especially 
among  their  leaders.  Against  the  call  to  protect  the  freed- 
men  and  bridle  the  slave-holding  spirit  in  its  new  forms, 
rose  the  call  to  return  to  the  old  respect  for  local  rights, 
and  let  each  Southern  State  manage  its  own  affairs,  as  did 
each  Northern  State.  To  this  changed  attitude  came  some 
of  the  staunchest  of  the  old  anti-slavery  leaders,  and  many 
of  the  younger  generation.  During  the  early  years  of 
Grant's  administration,  the  question  did  not  present  itself 
in  acute  forms.  The  Ku-Klux  law  of  1870,  though  it  might 
strain  the  Constitution  a  little,  received  general  acquies 
cence  because  the  abuse  it  aimed  at  was  so  flagrant.  But 
the  ostracism  of  the  entire  official  class  of  the  old  South 
was  growingly  recognized  as  a  grievance  and  a  wrong.  It 
was  the  spirit  of  proscription  that  brought  on  the  political 
crisis  of  1872.  That  prescriptive  spirit  broke  up  the  Repub 
lican  party  in  Missouri;  the  liberal  element,  led  by  Carl 
Schurz  and  B.  Gratz  Brown,  held  a  State  convention.  Their 
movement  fell  in  with  a  strong  rising  tide  of  opposition 
to  Grant's  administration  within  the  Republican  party.  Its 
grounds  were  various, — chiefly,  a  protest  against  wide  and 
gross  maladministration,  a  demand  for  a  reformed  and 
scientific  civil-service,  opposition  to  the  high  tariff,  and  the 
desire  for  a  more  generous  and  reconciling  policy  toward 
the  South.  The  movement  was  especially  prompted  by  a 
group  of  leading  independent  journals  conducted  by  very 
able  men, — the  New  York  Evening  Post,  under  William 
Cullen  Bryant;  the  Nation,  edited  by  E.  L.  Godkin;  the 


328  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

Cincinnati  Commercial  of  Murat  Halstead;  the  Louisville 
Courier- Journal  of  Henry  Watterson;  the  Springfield 
Republican  of  Samuel  Bowles.  Sympathetic  in  the  main 
was  Horace  Greeley 's  New  York  Tribune.  In  more  or  less 
close  alliance  were  a  few  of  the  congressional  leaders,  not 
ably  Sumner,  who  had  quarreled  bitterly  with  Grant  over 
the  proposed  annexation  of  San  Domingo;  Trumbull,  who 
was  never  in  close  touch  with  his  old  party  after  the  im 
peachment  trial;  and  Carl  Schurz,  who  was  now  in  the 
Senate. 

A  national  convention  was  held  at  Cincinnati,  in  May, 
1872.  The  Democrats  had  so  little  hope  of  separate  suc 
cess  that  they  stood  ready  to  fall  in  with  the  new  departure, 
and  this  gave  greater  importance  to  its  action.  For  its 
Presidential  candidate,  the  foremost  name  had  been  that  of 
the  elder  Charles  Francis  Adams.  Of  the  most  distin 
guished  family  in  the  country's  political  annals;  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Free  Soil  party ;  a  conservative  but  resolute 
Republican ;  minister  to  England  through  the  war,  and  most 
serviceable  there  by  his  firmness  and  wisdom;  eminent  by 
character,  experience,  and  mental  equipment;  so  indifferent 
to  office  that  he  almost  openly  scorned  the  proffered  honor, 
— he  seemed  to  the  reformers  a  nearly  ideal  candidate,  how 
ever  much  his  reserved  and  distant  manners  might  handi 
cap  him  before  a  popular  constituency. 

But  the  spite  of  a  disappointed  aspirant,  B.  Gratz  Brown, 
and  the  caprice  of  the  convention,  turned  its  choice  by  a 
sudden  impulse  to  Horace  Greeley.  It  was  a  choice  that 
from  the  first  moment  not  only  defeated  but  almost  stultified 
the  liberal  movement.  It  mattered  not  much  what  principles 
the  convention  set  forth.  Tariff  reform  it  had  already  set 
aside,  and  Greeley  was  a  zealous  protectionist.  For  scien 
tific  civil-service  reform  he  cared  nothing,  and  to  mistakes 
in  his  personal  choices  he  was  at  least  as  liable  as  Grant. 


Reconstruction:     The  Working  Out      329 

His  revolt  against  Grant  was  due  partly  to  a  dispute  about 
State  patronage.  Only  in  generous  sentiment  toward  the 
South  did  he  fitly  represent  the  original  and  best  element 
of  the  convention.  He  was  dropped  at  once  by  the  Evening 
Post,  the  Nation,  and  a  large  part  of  the  liberals.  The 
Democrats,  despairing  of  any  other  way  to  success,  indorsed 
his  nomination.  But  the  acceptance  of  a  candidate  who 
for  thirty  years  had  been  showering  hard  words  on  the 
Democracy  was  almost  grotesque.  The  South  was  half 
hearted  in  his  support.  A  few  of  the  faithful  nominated 
Charles  O'Conor  on  an  independent  Democrat  ticket.  The 
question  was  only  of  the  size  of  the  majority  against 
Greeley. 

His  wisest  supporters  avowed  as  the  best  significance  of 
his  candidacy :  "  It  means  that  the  war  is  really  over/' 
Greeley  had  proved  the  sincerity  of  his  friendliness  toward 
the  South  at  a  heavy  cost.  President  Johnson  held  Jefferson 
Davis  in  long  imprisonment,  with  the  aggravation  not  only 
of  close  confinement  and  even  a  temporary  manacling,  but 
of  a  public  accusation  of  complicity  in  the  murder  of 
Lincoln.  It  was  treatment  wholly  unfit  for  a  prisoner  of 
state  and  a  man  of  Davis's  character.  Its  effect  on  the 
South  may  be  judged  by  imagining  how  the  North  would 
have  felt  had  Lincoln  fallen  into  Southern  hands  and  been 
kept  in  shackles  and  under  the  charge  of  assassination.  The 
imprisonment  of  Davis  and  the  avowed  purpose  to  try  him 
as  a  traitor  were  utterly  out  of  keeping  with  the  general 
recognition  that  secession  and  its  sequel  were  to  be  dealt 
with  as  a  political  wrong  and  not  a  personal  crime. 

Greeley,  who  on  the  very  morning  after  Lee's  surrender 
had  called  for  a  universal  amnesty,  showed  his  faith  by  his 
works  when  at  the  opportunity  in  May,  1867,  he  offered 
himself,  in  company  with  Gerrit  Smith,  as  bondsmen  for 
Davis,  thus  obtaining  his  release,  and  incurring  for  himself 


330  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

a  storm  of  obloquy.  The  storm  was  short-lived,  but 
revived  in  greater  fury  when  Greeley  became  a  Presidential 
candidate  against  Grant,  with  the  support  of  the  Democracy 
and  the  South.  The  campaign  was  full  of  bitterness  and 
abuse.  In  Harper's  Weekly,  of  which  the  editorial  page 
was  conducted  by  the  high-spirited  and  gentle  George  Will 
iam  Curtis,  Nast  assailed  the  liberals  in  savage  cartoons; 
in  one  Sumner  was  depicted  as  scattering  flowers  on  the 
grave  of  Preston  Brooks,  and  another  showed  Greeley  shak 
ing  hands  with  the  shade  of  Wilkes  Booth  over  the  grave 
of  Lincoln.  From  the  other  side  Grant  was  attacked  with 
equal  ferocity. 

Greeley  went  down  in  overwhelming  defeat,  and  died 
of  exhaustion  and  a  broken  heart  before  the  electoral  votes 
were  counted.  But  something  had  been  gained.  There 
had  been  a  breaking  of  old  lines.  And  one  of  the  South's 
main  grievances  had  been  almost  removed.  Within 
a  month  after  the  Cincinnati  convention,  its  call  for  amnesty 
was  vindicated  by  a  bill  passed  in  Congress  removing  the  dis 
abilities  of  almost  all  the  excluded  class.  Out  of  some 
160,000,  only  about  700  were  left  on  the  proscribed  list. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

THREE  TROUBLED  STATES 

IN  Grant's  second  term,  the  divergence  between  the  Repub 
licans  on  Southern  questions,  though  never  taking  permanent 
form,  often  found  marked  and  effective  expression.  In 
the  Senate,  the  controlling  group,  who  were  also  the  special 
friends  and  allies  of  Grant,  were  radicals,  and  generally  of 
a  more  materialistic  class  than  the  earlier  leaders.  Fessen- 
den  had  died  in  1869;  Sumner  was  alienated,  and  died  in 
1874;  Wilson  had  passed  into  the  insignificance  of  the  Vice- 
Presidency  ;  Trumbull  was  in  opposition.  At  the  front  were 
Chandler,  of  Michigan ;  Oliver  P.  Morton,  War  Governor 
of  Illinois,  powerful  and  partisan ;  Roscoe  Conkling,  of 
New  York,  showy  and  arrogant.  In  the  House  the  fore 
most  man  was  James  G.  Elaine,  Speaker  until  with  the 
Democratic  majority  he  became  leader  of  the  opposition; 
brilliant  in  speech,  fascinating  and  "  magnetic  "  in  personal 
intercourse,  always  prominent  and  popular,  but  almost  never 
closely  identified  with  any  great  principle  or  constructive 
measure.  Very  prominent  on  the  floor  was  General  Butler, 
a  foremost  radical  toward  the  South ;  always  a  storm-center ; 
an  advocate  of  inflation,  an  ally  of  most  bad  causes,  an 
effective  mischief-maker;  followed,  feared,  and  hated  writh 
equal  ardor.  The  membership  of  the  House  was  notable 
for  able  men, — the  Hoar  brothers,  Henry  L.  Pierce,  Eugene 
Hale,  Dawes,  Hawley,  Poland,  Garfield,  Kasson,  and  others 
of  almost  equal  mark.  The  death  of  Thaddeus  Stevens,  in 
1868,  had  left  the  House  without  a  master.  The  Greeley 


332  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

campaign,  disastrous  though  it  was,  had  started  a  con 
tagious  spirit  of  independence.  During  Grant's  second 
administration,  1873-7,  tnere  was  shown  in  the  House,  on 
important  questions,  a  degree  of  independence  rare  in 
American  politics.  It  was  the  growing  Republican  oppo 
sition  to  Federal  interference  in  the  South  that  hastened 
its  end,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  consummation  of  that 
result  under  President  Hayes. 

We  now  return  to  the  individual  cases  of  three  Southern 
States.  To  South  Carolina  fell  the  bitterest  experience  of 
misgovernment.  Its  black  majority  was  organized  and 
led  by  a  group  of  white  men  of  the  worst  character,  who 
were  resisted  for  a  time  without  success  by  a  better  element 
in  the  party.  Under  four  years'  administration  of  Governor 
R.  K.  Scott,  a  Northerner,  and  two  of  F.  J.  Moses,  Jr.,  a 
South  Carolinian — who  later  disappeared  from  public  view 
in  a  penitentiary, — money  was  lavished  in  profligate  expendi 
ture;  hundreds  of  thousands  spent  for  legislative  furniture 
and  luxuries;  franchises  were  corruptly  sold;  bogus  enter 
prises  enriched;  debt  piled  up  by  millions,  and  thrown  off 
by  millions.  (Repudiation,  be  it  said,  always  came  easily 
to  the  South, — before  the  war  and  after ;  during  reconstruc 
tion  and  after ;  whether  the  borrowed  money  had  been  spent 
for  railroads  or  squandered  by  thieves ;  and  the  ghost  of  an 
unpaid  $300,000,000  still  scares  Southern  Senators  when  a 
general  arbitration  treaty  is  discussed.)  South  Carolina 
went  from  bad  to  worse  for  six  years. 

When,  in  1872,  the  honest  Republicans  bolted,  under  an 
unimpeachable  candidate,  Reuben  Tomlinson,  a  Philadel 
phia  Quaker,  and  gave  him  35,000  votes,  the  Democrats 
stood  scornfully  aloof — "  better  a  native  thief  than  an  honest 
Yankee ! "  But  in  1874  came  a  revolution  in  the  Republi 
can  ranks.  Honesty  triumphed,  under  the  lead  of  the  elected 
governor,  Daniel  H.  Chamberlain,  of  Massachusetts  birth 


Three  Troubled  States  333 

and  education, — a  remarkable  man;  shrewd,  long-headed,  a 
past  master  in  political  management ;  with  high  aims ;  by  no 
means  indifferent  to  personal  success,  but  generally  succeed 
ing  in  combining  personal  and  public  service.  With  a  Legis 
lature  in  which  two-thirds  were  Republicans,  and  whites 
and  blacks  were  about  equal  in  number,  he  achieved 
a  surprising  reversal  of  the  evil  tendencies  that  had  pre 
vailed.  In  the  Legislature  the  best  of  the  Democrats  backed 
him,  together  with  the  best  of  the  Republicans,  and  over 
matched  the  corruptionists.  Stealing  was  stopped;  the 
abuses  of  the  pardoning  power  were  ended;  the  tax  laws 
were  amended  so  as  to  secure  uniformity  and  equality  of 
assessment ;  expenditure  was  reduced  and  regulated.  These 
were  the  statements  of  the  Charleston  News  and  Courier, 
the  leading  paper  of  the  State,  in  July,  1876,  when  another 
election  was  coming  on.  Most  of  the  Democratic  papers 
had  praised  and  supported  Governor  Chamberlain.  It  was 
now  very  seriously  contemplated,  and  advocated  by  the 
News  and  Courier,  to  let  him  be  re-elected  without  opposi 
tion.  But  the  old-time  pride  of  race  and  party  was  too 
strong,  and  the  Democrats  nominated  Wade  Hampton.  They 
supported  him  with  little  scruple  as  to  means, — with  free 
use  of  intimidation  and  proscription,  with  frequent  threats 
and  often  the  reality  of  violence.  There  was  a  shocking 
massacre  at  Hamburg.  Governor  Chamberlain  called  on 
the  President  for  aid,  and  a  thousand  troops  were  sent  into 
the  State.  When  the  election  came,  there  was  claimed  a 
majority  for  Chamberlain  and  for  the  Republican  Presi 
dential  ticket.  The  claim  was  instantly  and  fiercely  chal 
lenged  by  Hampton's  supporters.  And  here  the  story 
pauses,  until  it  joins  the  main  current  of  national  affairs. 

Mississippi  was  under  Republican  control  until  1875.  If 
one  attempts  to  judge  of  the  character  of  that  control,  he 
plunges  into  a  sea  of  contradictions  almost  enough  to  sub- 


334  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

merge  the  hope  of  truth.  Whether  we  turn  to  standard 
historians,  to  the  1000  pages  of  sworn  testimony  before  a 
Congressional  committee,  or  to  individual  witnesses,  the  per 
plexity  is  the  same.  Thus,  we  consult  Woodrow  Wilson's 
History  of  the  American  People, — and  this  book  invites  a 
word  of  comment.  Its  author  has  woven  together  the 
immense  material  of  the  national  history  for  three  centuries, 
in  the  main  with  admirable  judgment  and  skill.  He  has  pro 
duced  a  comprehensive,  well-proportioned,  graphic  narrative, 
which  closely  hoMs  the  reader's  attention,  and  gives  in 
general  the  spirit  as  well  as  the  substance  of  the  people's 
story.  But  upon  the  main  theme  of  the  crowning  century, 
he  misses  some  of  the  vital  elements.  Of  the  wrong  and 
mischief  of  slavery  he  has  hardly  a  word,  waving  the  sub 
ject  aside  as  if  beyond  his  province.  He  gives  with  admira 
ble  sympathy  and  intelligence  the  attitude  of  the  well-mean 
ing  Southerner  before  and  after  the  war;  and  this  feature 
has  special  value  for  those  familiar  only  with  the  Northern 
standpoint.  But  he  has  not  the  least  appreciation  of  the 
anti-slavery  spirit  in  its  heroic  phase.  On  the  wrongs  of 
the  slave  he  is  silent,  while  upon  the  sins  of  the  carpet 
bagger  he  is  eloquent.  This  one-sidedness  robs  of  its  sig 
nificance  what  should  be  the  American  epic  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

Of  the  misgovernment  of  Mississippi,  Dr.  Wilson  in 
stances  that  "  before  the  work  of  the  carpet-baggers  was 
done,  640,000  acres  of  land  had  been  forfeited  for  taxes, 
twenty  per  cent,  of  the  total  acreage  of  the  State."  The 
nearest  atlas  or  gazetteer  is  enough  to  check  this  statement. 
The  total  acreage  of  the  State  is  29,640,000, — of  which  640,- 
ooo  is  not  twenty  per  cent.,  but  a  trifle  over  two  per  cent. 
Dr.  Wilson  goes  on  to  say  that  the  State  tax  levy  in  1874 
was  fourteen  times  as  great  as  in  1869.  This  is  apparently 
taken  from  the  "  Taxpayers'  petition  "  of  1875,  ^u 


Three  Troubled  States  335 

whatever  source,  it  gives  an  utterly  exaggerated  impression. 
Before  the  Congressional  committee  Judge  H.  R.  Ware, 
chairman  of  the  State  Republican  committee, — a  Kentuckian 
by  birth,  and  a  life-long  resident  of  Mississippi, — gave  his 
testimony ;  and  it  included  documents  showing  that  the  total 
State  expense  during  the  last  two  years  of  Democratic  rule, 
1864  and  '65,  was  $1,410,250  and  $1,860,809;  f°r  twenty 
years  of  Democratic  administration,  throwing  out  the  extra 
expenses  of  the  war  period,  the  average  cost  was  $699,200 ; 
under  military  government  (always  the  cheapest)  in  1869 
it  was  $563,219;  while  under  the  Republicans  in  1875  it  was 
$618,259;  and  the  average  for  six  Republican  years  had 
been  $992,920.  When  the  Republicans  came  in,  they  had 
to  make  payments  in  warrants  worth  only  sixty-five  cents 
on  the  dollar,  with  proportionate  increase  of  expense;  they 
had  to  provide  for  a  free  population  doubled  by  the  emanci 
pation  of  the  slaves,  and  for  the  last  four  years  they  had 
made  an  annual  reduction. 

Yet  the  "  Taxpayers'  petition  " — addressed  to  the  Legis 
lature  early  in  1875,  and  without  effect, — must  be  taken  as 
evidence  of  at  least  a  considerable  extravagance  and  waste. 
A  reading  of  it  gives  the  impression  of  a  needless  multiplica 
tion  of  offices  and  excessive  salaries.  The  public  printing 
seems  clearly  a  scandal,  running  above  $73,000  a  year,  as 
against  a  cost  in  the  sister  State  of  Georgia  of  only  $10,000. 
The  general  charge  seems  to  be  of  laxness  and  needlessly 
high  salaries  rather  than  any  wholesale  corruption.  Some 
question  as  to  the  justice  of  the  general  charge  occurs  when 
a  point  is  encountered  as  to  the  payment  of  teachers  in  the 
public  schools.  The  petitioners  claim  that  this  should  be 
reduced  to  $25  a  month  for  second-class  schools,  and  $50 
a  month  for  first-class  schools.  In  fact,  when  the  Democrats 
came  into  power,  they  reduced  the  rate  to  $40  a  month, — 
which,  for  a  school  year  of  four  months  only,  seems  like 


336  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

penny-wise  economy.  The  petition  makes  perhaps  the 
strongest  impression  in  its  statement  that  the  boards  of 
supervisors,  controlling  local  taxation,  are,  as  a  general  rule, 
"  wholly  unfit  to  discharge  their  duties,  and  without  re 
spectability  or  even  accountability  " ;  that  the  public  works 
under  their  care  are  recklessly  and  carelessly  managed,  and 
the  county  taxes  are  grievous.  It  would  seem  that  in  these 
local  bodies,  especially  in  the  "  black  counties,"  lay  the  worst 
of  the  taxpayers'  grievance. 

Judge  Story  makes  a  vigorous  retort,  testifying  after  a 
year  of  Democratic  administration,  1875-6,  as  to  the  ques 
tion  of  comparative  expense.  He  shows  that  the  State  tax 
had  indeed  been  reduced  from  9^  mills  to  6J  mills,  but  this 
only  by  cutting  off  outright  the  school  tax  of  two  mills. 
Not  to  follow  further  the  labyrinth  of  figures,  it  is  interest 
ing  to  note,  as  to  the  favorite  term  "  carpet-bagger,"  that 
of  the  six  Republican  candidates  for  Congress  in  Mississippi, 
in  1876,  only  one  was  of  Northern  birth,  and  he  had  married 
and  lived  in  the  South  since  the  war ;  one  had  been  an  old 
Southern  Democrat  and  a  circuit  judge ;  two  had  been  Con 
federate  officers ;  and  one,  John  R.  Lynch,  was  a  colored 
man  of  high  intelligence  and  excellent  character.  He,  as 
Speaker  of  the  House,  and  B.  K.  Bruce,  United  States  Sena 
tor,  were  among  the  colored  men  who  showed  capacity  and 
character  worthy  of  the  high  positions  they  attained.  Among 
the  Republican  leaders  of  Northern  birth  were  some  who 
were  honored  and  trusted  in  their  old  homes ;  such  men  as 
General  Eggleston,  president  of  the  Constitutional  conven 
tion;  Colonel  Warner,  afterward  State  Treasurer  of  Con 
necticut,  and  Henry  W.  Warren,  of  Massachusetts.  The 
first  Republican  governor,  J.  M.  Alcorn,  was  a  Southern 
man,  very  able,  but  apparently  not  of  the  highest  moral 
standards.  His  successor,  Adelbert  Ames,  was  from  Massa 
chusetts,  conceded  now  to  have  been  "  honest  and  brave, 


Three  Troubled  States  337 

but  narrow  and  puritanical,"  and  with  the  mysterious  trait 
of  "  hating  the  Aryan  race  of  the  South." 

These  last  words  are  quoted  from  the  story  of  an  old 
friend  of  the  reader's, — Thomas  Dabney,  the  "  Southern 
planter,"  whose  noble  character  was  sketched  in  chapter 
XII.  He  had  fought  a  brave  fight  with  poverty  and  hard 
ship  since  the  war,  and  as  we  come  again  into  his  company 
for  a  moment,  it  is  with  a  sense  of  confidence  which  even 
official  documents  do  not  inspire.  He  had  no  doubt  of  the 
oppressiveness  of  Republican  rule,  and  the  need  of  shaking 
it  off  by  vigorous  measures.  It  is  related  that  the  taxes  on 
his  plantation  for  1873  were  over  $900,  while  the  income 
was  less  than  $800.  Yet  one  letter  tells  that  he  is  in  "  a 
laughing  humor  "  because  he  has  just  paid  his  taxes  for 
1875 — only  $375, — a  reduction  of  more  than  half — and  this 
was  still  under  Republican  rule. 

One  other  witness  may  be  heard,  the  writer's  life-long 
friend,  Henry  W.  Warren,  now  of  Holden,  Mass.  To  those 
who  know  him  his  name  is  a  synonym  for  integrity,  efficiency 
and  modesty ;  he  is  one  of  the  men  who  never  seek  a  public 
honor  and  never  decline  a  public  service.  From  his  own 
words  some  statements  are  here  condensed.  "  After  gradu 
ating  at  Yale  in  1865,  I  was  called  to  a  position  as  public 
school  teacher  at  Nashville,  Tenn. ;  and  from  there,  seeing 
a  promising  opportunity,  I  went  with  two  friends  to  work 
a  cotton  plantation  in  one  of  the  '  white  '  counties  of  Mis 
sissippi.  We  bought  it  from  its  old  owner,  who  had  kept 
his  slaves  in  his  employ  as  paid  laborers,  and  they  continued 
to  work  for  us.  As  slaves  they  had  not  been  badly  treated, 
except  by  the  overseer  during  the  master's  absence.  Many 
of  the  whites  of  the  county,  owning  no  slaves,  had  been  in 
different  to  the  Confederate  cause,  and  many  of  them  had 
served  in  its  army  only  when  hunted  by  the  conscription 
officer,  sometimes  with  bloodhounds.  More  than  a  few  of 


338  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

them  were  Republicans.  I  was  asked  to  serve  as  registrar 
of  voters  for  the  Constitutional  convention,  being  one  of  the 
few  who  could  take  the  '  iron-clad  oath  '  (that  is,  that  he  had 
never  aided  the  Confederacy)  and  this  led  to  my  going  to 
the  convention,  and  afterward  to  the  Legislature.  The 
Speaker  dying,  I  was  chosen  to  his  place  for  the  rest  of  the 
term.  Our  county  going  Democratic,  I  was  not  re-elected ; 
but  I  was  chosen  chief  clerk  of  the  House,  and  served  for 
four  years,  after  my  two  years  as  a  member.  All  the  Demo 
crats  united  in  signing  a  paper,  asking  me  to  be  always 
present  in  the  House, — this  was  after  I  had  induced  the 
Speaker  to  change  a  mistaken  ruling.  So  I  was  in  a  posi 
tion  to  know  pretty  well  what  was  going  on.  From  the  first 
there  were  plenty  of  Confederate  generals  and  colonels  in 
the  Legislature."  (The  excluding  clauses  were  struck  out 
of  the  Mississippi  constitution  at  the  start.)  "  The  manner 
of  the  blacks  to  the  whites  was  habitually  civil,  and  some 
thing  of  the  slave's  deference  to  the  white  man  remained. 
I  think  the  legislation  was  generally  of  reasonably  good 
character.  I  knew  positively  of  but  little  corruption.  That 
there  was  some  corruption  and  more  extravagance,  I  have 
no  doubt.  But  I  have  served  since  in  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature,  and  I  think  the  Southern  State  was  but  little 
worse  than  the  Northern.  The  negro  members,  though  with 
some  able  and  honest  leaders  of  their  own,  like  Bruce  and 
Lynch,  followed  largely  the  prominent  white  men.  Of  the 
Northerners  whom  I  knew,  almost  all  were  men  of  substance 
and  had  come  to  stay.  Six  out  of  ten  owned  plantations. 
A  '  carpet-bagger  '  I  hardly  ever  met,  though  no  doubt  there 
were  some, — but  the  name  was  given  to  all  Northerners.  As 
to  expense,  you  must  remember  that  the  State  had  to  be  com 
pletely  rehabilitated.  The  war  had  ruined  everything ;  public 
buildings  were  destroyed  or  dilapidated ;  and  under  military 
rule  things  had  simply  been  kept  going.  Everything  had 


Three  Troubled  States  339 

to  be  reconstructed.  The  slaves  had  become  citizens,  and 
that  doubled  the  number  to  be  provided  for.  There  had 
been  practically  no  public  schools,  and  they  were  set  up 
throughout  the  State.  Taxes  had  fallen  largely  on  slave 
property,  now  they  came  on  land.  So  it  was  inevitable  that 
there  should  be  an  increase  of  taxation.  About  county  taxes 
I  have  no  special  knowledge,  though  in  our  locality  they 
certainly  were  not  burdensome.  In  some  of  the  black 
counties  it  may  have  been  worse.  The  Republicans,  both 
blacks  and  whites,  were  drilled  in  the  '  Loyal  League  of 
America,' — it  was  a  purely  political  organization,  often  meet 
ing  in  the  woods  at  night.  In  those  years  there  was  immense 
progress  on  the  part  of  the  negroes, — political  discussion 
was  educational.  I  think  if  the  Federal  government  had 
provided  better  school  education,  and  had  protected  the 
voters  at  the  polls,  all  might  have  gone  well.  That  there 
was  more  or  less  of  extravagance  on  the  part  of  the  Legisla 
ture  is  not  to  be  denied.  So  there  is  in  Massachusetts.  That 
there  was  anything  to  justify  the  means  resorted  to  in  1875 
and  1876  to  get  complete  control  of  the  State  government, 
might  safely  be  questioned." 

What  those  means  were,  there  is  no  serious  question.  The 
Democrats  organized  a  campaign  of  clubs,  processions,  en 
thusiasm,  and — intimidation.  The  better  part  would  have 
disclaimed  the  last  feature,  but  they  did  not  prevent  it. 
Thomas  Dabney  was  among  the  leaders.  He  relates  that 
the  best  men  were  brought  out  for  the  nominations,  often 
against  their  own  desire.  He,  in  his  old  age,  was  made 
president  of  the  local  club,  and  kept  busy  with  marchings, 
meetings,  and  barbecues.  He  quotes  sympathetically  the 
response  of  a  friend  to  his  remark  that  the  uprising  was 
wonderful:  "Uprising?  It  is  no  uprising.  It  is  an  insur 
rection."  He  relates  that  at  Clinton  the  Republicans  got  up 
a  riot,  that  they  might  have  a  pretext  for  asking  President 


340  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

Grant  for  troops.  "  They  succeeded  in  getting  up  their 
riot,  which  was  put  down  by  our  own  people  after  so 
sanguinary  a  fashion  as  to  strike  them  with  a  terror  not 
easily  described."  There  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  "  san 
guinary  fashion  "  and  the  "  terror."  Testimony  abounds  of 
the  invasion  of  Republican  meetings,  enforced  demands  on 
the  Republican  speakers  to  "  divide  the  time,"  with  threats 
and  occasional  violence.  Sometimes  the  meetings  were  pre 
vented,  sometimes  they  were  broken  up.  There  was  a  great 
deal  of  terrorizing  and  now  and  then  a  murder.  In  some 
cases  the  officers  at  the  polls  interposed  so  many  hindrances 
that  many  of  the  negroes  were  unable  to  vote.  There  was 
but  a  handful  of  Federal  troops  in  the  State,  and  the  Presi 
dent  declined  to  send  more  at  Governor  Ames's  request.  The 
reign  of  terror  was  effective.  Once  again  we  quote  Mr. 
Warren:  "  In  our  part  of  the  country  there  were  constant 
parades  otf  the  '  red-shirted  cavalry/  and  the  negroes  were 
thoroughly  frightened.  Two  rough  fellows  once  assailed 
me  with  threats  and  abuse,  but  drew  off  when  I  stood  my 
ground.  When  the  election  came  on,  to  get  our  ballots 
printed  I  had  to  go  to  New  Orleans;  spies  dogged  me  in 
going  and  coming ;  and  as  with  a  friend  I  rode  toward  home, 
we  were  beset  and  besieged  in  a  planter's  house,  that  they 
might  get  possession  of  the  ballots.  Finally  we  rode  away 
on  an  unguarded  road,  pistol  in  hand,  and  escaped.  But 
they  afterward  captured  and  destroyed  a  part  of  the  ballots, 
and  by  such  means  they  carried  the  local  election.  By  such 
means  and  more  violent  measures  they  carried  the  State." 

The  Democratic  Legislature  now  proceeded  to  impeach 
Governor  Ames,  on  frivolous  charges,  but  agreed  to  drop 
the  proceedings  if  he  would  resign,  which  he  did,  and  left, 
the  State,  knowing  that  his  trial  would  be  a  farce.  In  1876 
the  campaign  was  of  the  same  character  as  in  1875,  and  s<> 
Mississippi  was  "  redeemed." 


UNIVERSITY 
Three  Troub^^g^a^x'  341 

The  case  of  Louisiana  was  widely  different.  In  that  State 
the  corruption  of  the  Republican  managers  was  flagrant ;  it 
extended  to  the  manipulation  of  election  returns;  and  the 
Federal  Government  interfered  freely,  and  with  notable  re 
sults.  A  knot  of  knavish  adventurers  were  in  control, — 
Henry  C.  Warmoth,  William  P.  Kellogg,  F.  F.  Casey,  and 
United  States  Marshal  S.  B.  Packard.  Casey  was  the  Presi 
dent's  brother-in-law,  and  General  Grant  was  almost  as 
incapable  of  believing  a  relative  of  his  to  be  a  bad  man  as 
he  was  incapable  of  knowingly  supporting  a  bad  man.  Casey 
was  made  collector  of  New  Orleans,  and  was  allowed  to  hold 
the  Republican  convention  in  the  custom-house,  with 
United  States  soldiers  guarding  the  doors  and  regulating 
the  admissions.  As  he  and  his  crew  were  wrecking  the 
finances  of  the  State,  there  was  in  1872  a  general  combina 
tion  against  them  of  the  better  elements, — they  preferred 
the  name  "  Conservatives  "  to  "  Democrats,"' — and  they 
claimed  to  have  elected  their  candidate,  John  McEnery,  as 
governor.  Warmouth,  who  had  been  governor  for  a  four 
years'  term,  had  quarreled  with  his  confederates  over  the 
division  of  plunder,  and  gone  over  to  the  Conservatives.  He 
controlled  the  State  returning-board,  to  which  the  laws  in 
trusted  a  very  elastic  and  dangerous  power  of  throwing  out 
returns  from  districts  where  intimidation  was  proved,  and 
undertook  to  declare  McEnery  elected.  But  there  was  a 
split  in  the  board ;  then  two  rival  boards,  one  awarding  the 
governorship  to  Kellogg  and  the  other  to  McEnery. 

The  imbroglio  was  suddenly  ended  by  the  intervention  of 
a  United  States  judge,  E.  H.  Durell,  who  issued  a  writ  at 
midnight,  directing  the  United  States  marshal,  S.  B.  Pack 
ard,  to  occupy  and  hold  the  capitol,  and  ordering  a  detach 
ment  of  United  States  troops  to  support  the  Kellogg  gov 
ernment.  This  fixed  the  character  of  the  State  for  the  next 
four  years,  by  perhaps  the  most  lawless  act  done  under  the 


342  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

name  of  law  in  this  whole  troubled  period.  It  was  perhaps 
only  the  overshadowing  interest  of  the  Presidential  campaign 
that  prevented  its  reversal  by  Congress, — that,  and  the 
lingering  disposition  of  the  North  to  pin  faith  on  whatever 
wore  the  label  "  Republican." 

McEnery  kept  up  a  shadowy  claim  to  the  governorship, 
with  the  countenance  of  the  "  respectable  "  element.  But 
Kellogg  and  his  pals  had  the  actual  administration,  and  used 
it  to  such  effect  that  in  two  years  the  State  bonds  had  fallen 
from  seventy  or  eighty  to  twenty-five,  and  New  Orleans 
city  bonds  from  eighty  or  ninety  to  thirty  or  forty.  In  1874 
the  Conservatives  made  a  determined  effort  to  carry  the 
Legislature.  There  was  an  organization  called  "  The  White 
League," — a  legitimate  political  society,  said  one  side; — a 
revival  of  the  Ku-Klux  spirit  and  methods  in  a  more  guarded 
form,  said  the  other  side.  Beyond  question,  there  was  in 
Louisiana,  at  all  stages  of  reconstruction,  some  degree  of 
terrorism,  and  occasional  acts  of  cruelty  and  outrage.  There 
was  knavery  among  the  Radicals,  and  there  was  violence 
among  the  Conservatives.  At  the  1874  election  the  Conserva 
tives  were  successful  at  the  polls;  but  the  State  returning- 
board  at  once  began  to  juggle  with  the  returns  so  palpably 
that  the  Conservative  member  protested  and  resigned.  The 
remainder  of  the  board,  after  a  month  of  diligent  work, 
threw  out  a  number  of  districts,  on  the  pretext  of  intimida 
tion,  and  as  to  five  seats  referred  the  question  to  the  House 
itself.  That  body  met,  organized  in  a  hasty  and  irregular 
fashion,  and  awarded  the  five  seats  to  the  Democratic 
claimants.  But  Governor  Kellogg  had  the  United  States 
troops  at  his  disposal,  and  by  his  command  General  De 
Trobriand  with  a  file  of  soldiers  entered  the  House  and 
ejected  the  five  Democrats, — whereupon  the  Republicans 
organized  the  House  anew. 

But  now  the  whole  country  took  alarm.     The  President 


Three  Troubled  States  343 

sent  General  Sheridan  ia  haste  to  New  Orleans,  and  his  first 
dispatch  sustained  Kellogg,  and  threw  the  blame  on  the 
White  League,  to  which  Secretary  of  War  Belknap  tele 
graphed  his  full  approval.  But  the  affair  transcended  ordi 
nary  politics  in  its  importance.  New  York  spoke  through 
Cooper  Institute,  and  Boston  by  Faneuil  Hall.  Such  citi 
zens  as  Bryant,  Evarts,  and  George  T.  Curtis  led  the  pro 
test.  Congress  rose  above  partisanship.  A  committee  of 
the  House,  including  such  Republicans  as  George  F.  Hoar, 
William  A.  Wheeler,  Charles  Foster,  William  W.  Phelps 
and  William  P.  Frye,  with  Clarkson  N.  Potter  and  Samuel 
S.  Marshall  for  the  Democrats,  visited  New  Orleans,  and 
after  full  inquiry  agreed  that  the  returning-board  had 
"  wrongfully  applied  an  erroneous  rule  of  law  " ;  that  the 
five  Democrats  had  been  defrauded  of  their  seats ;  and  that 
the  Louisiana  House  should  be  advised — the  national  House 
having  no  compulsory  power — to  "  repair  this  great  injus 
tice."  The  two  Democrats  went  further,  and  declared  that 
Governor  Kellogg  himself  held  by  no  rightful  tenure.  But 
the  Republicans  backed  a  compromise  offered  by  Wheeler, 
which  the  Louisianians  accepted, — the  Democrats  took  the 
Legislature,  while  the  Republicans  kept  the  governorship. 
The  returning  board  survived,  to  put  in  its  deadly  work 
two  years  later. 


CHAPTER   XXXV 

RECONSTRUCTION :     THE  LAST  ACT 

WE  turn  back  to  the  course  of  national  politics.  The  Re 
publican  triumph  of  1872  was  followed  by  an  overwhelming 
reverse  at  the  Congressional  election  of  1874.  There  was 
a  growing  impression  of  maladministration  at  Washington. 
The  Credit  Mobilier  scandal — the  easy  acceptance  by  Con 
gressmen  of  financial  favors  from  the  managers  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railway,  followed  by  disingenuous  denials — 
had  especially  discredited  the  party  in  power.  There  had 
been  a  great  financial  reverse  in  1873,  such  as  is  always 
charged  in  the  popular  mind  against  the  ruling  powers.  The 
South  had  increased  its  Democratic  vote.  So  from  various 
causes,  in  the  new  House  the  Republicans  passed  from  a 
majority  of  one  hundred  to  a  minority  of  forty;  with  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  even  Massachusetts,  in  the 
Democratic  column. 

But  the  clique  of  bitter  partisans  and  radicals,  with  whom 
President  Grant  had  become  closely  associated,  if  they  took 
warning  from  the  election,  drew  the  inference  that  they 
must  make  good  use  of  the  brief  time  left  them  in  the  final 
term  of  the  old  Congress.  While  the  Louisiana  imbroglio 
was  still  seething,  the  President  sent  a  message,  in  Febru 
ary,  18^5,  recommending  that  the  State  government  of 
Arkansas  te  declared  illegal.  It  had  held  an  unquestioned 
tenure  for  two  years,  and  the  proposal  to  oust  it  was  simply 
in  the  interest  of  its  two  Senators,  Powell  Clayton  and 
Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  who  belonged  to  the  Grant  faction.  At 
the  same  time  there  was  brought  forward  a  comprehensive 

344 


Reconstruction:     The  Last  Act         345 

measure,  popularly  known  as  the  "  Force  bill,"  bringing 
every  form  of  violence  or  intimidation  of  the  blacks  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  courts ;  putting  elec 
tions  under  supervision  and  control  of  the  Federal  officials, 
and  giving  the  President  large  power  for  the  supervision  of 
the  habeas  corpus.  Another  long  debated  measure  aimed  at 
the  fuller  enforcement  of  civil  rights — a  bill  good  in  itself, 
said  the  moderate  Republicans ;  better  if  a  part  of  a  general 
pacification ;  but  with  its  present  accompaniment  it  is  "  civil 
rights  prodded  in  with  bayonets."  In  the  Republican  press 
of  the  country,  and  in  the  party  in  Congress  as  well  as  the 
opposition,  the  battle  over  these  measures  was  hot.  The 
administration  organ  in  Washington  gave  big  type  and 
prominent  display  to  the  paragraph :  "  The  passage  of  the 
bill  " — the  Force  bill — "  is  required  to  preserve  to  the  Re 
publican  party  the  electoral  vote  of  the  Southern  States." 
The  President's  personal  influence  was  used  to  its  limits. 
Butler's  unscrupulous  tactics  were  all  employed.  But  the 
weight,  if  not  the  numbers,  of  the  House  Republicans,  rose 
in  opposition.  Forty  of  them,  including  Garfield,  Dawes, 
the  Hoars,  Hawley,  Hale,  Pierce,  Poland,  and  Kasson, 
joined  with  the  Democrats  under  the  able  leadership  of 
Samuel  J.  Randall.  In  the  House,  brains  and  conscience 
were  beaten  by  patronage;  the  bill  went  through.  But  it 
went  no  further, — in  spite  of  Morton  and  Conkling  the 
Senate  served  again  the  useful  function  of  obstruction.  The 
Arkansas  bill  was  beaten  in  the  House.  Only  the  Civil 
Rights  bill  became  a  law.  Independence  among  Republi 
cans  had  saved  the  party  from  its  most  dangerous  leadership. 
It  was  perhaps  this  result,  following  the  reverse  of  1874, 
that  disinclined  Grant  to  further  interference  in  the  South, 
and  held  his  hand  when  Governor  Ames  asked  aid  in  Mis 
sissippi.  The  Louisiana  business  had  so  shown  the  risks 
of  Federal  intervention  in  local  affairs,  that  even  the  best 


346  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

friends  of  the  freedmen  began  to  recognize  that  the  States 
were  most  safely  left  to  themselves.  But  the  sectional  fires 
were  not  left  to  die  unfanned.  When  the  new  Congress 
met,  1875-6,  the  Democrats  showed  themselves  conserva 
tive  enough.  They  chose  two  excellent  Northern  men  as 
speakers :  Michael  C.  Kerr,  of  Indiana,  and  upon  his  death 
Randall,  of  Pennsylvania;  and  they  showed  themselves 
chiefly  concerned  to  probe  administrative  abuses,  which,  in 
truth,  needed  heroic  surgery.  But  for  these  prosaic  mat 
ters  Blaine,  now  leader  of  the  opposition,  substituted  a  far 
more  lively  tune,  when  a  bill  for  universal  amnesty  at  the 
South  was  brought  before  the  House.  There  was  no  serious 
Republican  opposition,  but  Blaine  saw  his  opportunity, — he 
moved  that  sole  exception  be  made  of  Jefferson  Davis,  and 
on  that  text  he  roused  Northern  passion  by  the  story  of 
Andersonville,  goaded  to  exasperation  the  "  Confederate 
brigadiers  "  among  his  listeners,  and  made  himself  most 
conspicuous  for  the  time  among  the  Republican  leaders. 
He  eclipsed  the  foremost  of  the  Grant  clique,  Morton  and 
Conkling,  who  after  a  little  fruitless  third-term  talk  were 
both  hoping  to  be  legatees  of  the  Grant  influence  in  the  ap 
proaching  Presidential  convention.  But  at  the  eleventh  hour 
a  cloud  swept  over  Elaine's  prospects,  in  charges  of  dis 
creditable  receipt  of  favors  from  railroads  looking  for 
political  aid.  The  testimony  was  conflicting,  but  Elaine's 
palpable  seizure  of  his  own  letters  from  a  hostile  witness 
was  hardly  outweighed  even  by  his  spectacular  vindication 
of  his  acts  before  the  House.  A  sudden  illness  stopped  the 
investigation ;  and  later  his  transference  to  the  Senate  post 
poned  its  renewal  until  it  frustrated  his  ambition  in  1884. 
The  convention  in  1876  met  at  Cincinnati,  with  Blaine  the 
favorite,  and  Morton  and  Conkling  dividing  the  Grant 
strength.  The  reform  element,  led  by  George  William  Cur 
tis,  supported  Benjamin  F.  Bristow,  of  Kentucky,  who 


Reconstruction:     The  Last  Act         347 

had  made  an  honorable  record  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
by  attacking  powerful  rings,  which  through  their  connec 
tion  with  the  President's  friends  succeeded  in  driving  Bris- 
tow  out  of  office.  The  choice  of  the  convention  fell  on 
Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  Union  general,  governor  of  Ohio, 
leader  of  a  State  campaign  in  1875  which  had  been  a  decisive 
victory  for  sound  money,  and  a  man  highly  acceptable  to  the 
reformers.  Against  him  the  Democrats  nominated  Samuel 
J.  Tilden,  of  New  York,  a  statesman  in  his  aims  and  the 
craftiest  of  politicians  in  his  means ;  tolerant  of  Tammany 
Hall  while  it  was  a  necessary  factor  in  the  party,  but  leader 
in  the  fierce  and  skilful  assault  which  drove  the  Tweed  ring 
from  power.  As  Governor  he  had  attacked  and  routed  a 
formidable  gang  of  plunderers  connected  with  the  canal 
management.  On  the  issues  which  to  thoughtful  men  were 
becoming  paramount, — administrative  reform  and  sound 
finance, — he  offered  as  good  promise  as  did  Governor  Hayes. 

The  two  men,  and  the  elements  supporting  them,  stood 
for  the  new  politics  instead  of  the  old, — the  replacement  of 
the  war  issues  and  their  sequels  by  the  matters  of  clean  ad 
ministration,  sound  currency,  and  interests  common  alike 
to  the  whole  nation.  But  the  Republican  leaders  found  their 
best  campaign  material  in  what  the  slang  of  the  time  called 
"  waving  the  bloody  shirt," — reviving  the  cry  of  abuse  of 
the  freedmen,  suppression  of  the  negro  vote,  and  the  need 
of  national  protection  for  the  nation's  wards.  It  was  out  of 
keeping  with  Hayes's  record,  and  with  his  later  perform 
ances, — but  he  let  the  campaign  take  its  way,  and  the  sec 
tional  temper  that  was  roused  provided  the  atmosphere  in 
which  the  next  act  of  the  drama  was  played. 

Election  day  came:  the  returns  indicated  the  election  of 
Tilden;  Democrats  went  to  bed  jubilant  and  Republicans 
regretful.  Then,  just  before  the  night-editor  of  the  New 
York  Times  put  his  paper  to  press  at  3  A.M.,  he  noticed  that 


348  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  returns  from  South  Carolina,  Louisiana,  and  Florida 
were  hardly  more  than  conjectural,  and,  on  the  chance  of 
making  his  tables  more  complete,  he  sent  a  neighborly 
inquiry  to  the  Republican  headquarters  as  to  whether  they 
had  definite  returns  from  those  States.  The  inquiry  came 
to  the  ears  of  a  little  knot  of  the  party  managers,  among 
them  Zachariah  Chandler,  chairman  of  the  national  com 
mittee.  He  caught  at  it, — "  the  Democrats  are  not  sure  of 
those  States, — we  have  a  chance."  Instantly — so  the  story 
goes — he  sent  dispatches  to  the  party  managers  in  the  three 
States,  "  Claim  everything."  So  they  did — and  so  did  he. 
Next  morning,  following  the  first  announcement  of  Tilden's 
election,  came  the  assertion  that  the  Republicans  had  carried 
South  Carolina,  Louisiana  and  Florida — which  would  give 
Hayes  a  majority  of  one  vote  in  the  electoral  college.  All 
hung  on  the  vote  in  those  three  States, — no,  on  the  counting 
of  the  votes !  The  returning-board  of  Louisiana,  which  had 
before  been  so  useful,  was  in  full  working  order;  Florida 
was  similary  equiped ;  South  Carolina  was  in  much  the 
same  case.  The  boards  had  authority  to  throw  out  the  entire 
vote  of  districts  where  there  was  proof  that  intimidation 
had  tainted  the  election.  The  business  of  merely  counting 
the  votes  might  be  supplemented  by  the  operation  of  throw 
ing  out  enough  districts  to  leave  the  prize  with  the  party 
that  did  the  counting.  It  soon  appeared  that  the  returning 
boards  could  be  trusted  by  their  friends.  With  all  reason 
able  speed,  they  threw  out  enough  votes  to  give  all  the 
doubtful  States  to  Hayes.  In  each  of  these  States  an  indig 
nant  and  protesting  opposition  sent  in  a  counter  set  of 
returns  giving  the  electoral  vote  to  Tilden.  And  any  one 
of  the  three  States  would  be  enough  to  insure  Tilden's 
election. 

The  controversy  extended  to  the  state  governments — in 
South   Carolina,   both    Wade    Hampton   and    Chamberlain 


Reconstruction:    The  Last  Act         349 

claimed  the  Governorship,  and  each  had  a  Legislature  organ 
ized  to  support  him.  The  case  was  the  same  in  Louisiana, 
with  Nichols  and  Packard.  President  Grant  refused  recog 
nition  or  active  support  to  either  party;  but  United  States 
troops  kept  the  peace,  and  their  presence  prevented  the 
Democratic  claimants  from  summarily  ousting  their 
opponents. 

The  whole  [country  was  in  a  storm  of  excitement.  The 
returning-boards  had  done  their  counting, — but  who  was  to 
judge  the  judges?  Who  was  to  decide  which  of  the  returns 
of  Presidential  electors  were  the  valid  ones?  They  were 
to  be  passed  on  by  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  in  joint 
session.  But  the  Senate  was  Republican,  the  Representatives 
were  Democratic, — what  if  they  disagreed  as  to  the  returns? 
The  President  of  the  Senate  is  to  decide,  claimed  the  Repub 
licans, — on  very  slender  grounds,  it  must  be  said.  The 
House  of  Representatives,  said  the  Democrats, — with  more 
plausible  yet  doubtful  argument.  The  deadlock  was  alarm 
ing.  Then  the  emergency  was  met  with  a  self-control,  a 
resourcefulness  and  efficiency,  worthy  of  the  best  that  is 
claimed  for  the  American  character.  By  general  agreement 
of  the  moderate  men  of  both  parties,  a  special  tribunal  was 
constituted  for  the  occasion.  It  consisted  of  five  Senators, 
five  Representatives,  and  five  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
The  Congressmen  were  evenly  divided  between  the  two 
parties.  The  justices  were  two  and  two,  with  the  fifth  place 
assigned  to  David  Davis,  an  independent.  It  was  an  ideal 
division.  But  at  the  critical  moment,  Davis  was  chosen  by 
the  Illinois  Legislature  to  the  Senate,  so  that  he  could  not 
act.  As  a  substitute,  Justice  Joseph  Bradley,  was  put  on 
the  commission.  He  was  a  Republican,  but  in  the  generous 
temper  which  had  risen  to  meet  the  emergency,  there  was 
a  general  feeling  that  party  lines  would  be  forgotten  by  the 
tribunal.  The  commission  consisted  of  Justices  Bradley, 


350  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

Miller,  Strong,  Field  and  Clifford ;  Senators  Edmunds,  Mor 
ton,  Frelinghuysen,  Bayard  and  Sherman;  Representatives 
G.  F.  Hoar,  Garfield,  Payne,  Himton  and  Abbott. 

The  two  Houses  proceeded  to  count  the  electoral  votes 
in  the  usual  form,  and  whenever  the  return  was  contested 
the  case  was  referred  to  the  commission  and  debated  before 
it.  Each  side  had  its  ablest  lawyers  to  plead;  for  the  one 
party,  Evarts,  Kasson,  McCrary,  Stoughton  and  Matthews ; 
for  the  other,  O'Conor,  Black,  Field  and  Tucker.  The 
commission  then  made  its  decision;  and  the  result  was  re 
ported  to  the  two  Houses  for  their  acceptance.  In  the  plead 
ing,  the  Republicans  took  their  stand  on  legality  and  the 
Democrats  on  equity.  The  Democrats  claimed  as  the  ques 
tion  at  issue,  For  whom  did  the  majority  of  the  people 
of  the  State  give  their  votes?  The  Republicans  made  it, 
Whom  does  the  official  authority  of  the  State  certify  as 
elected?  When  the  commission  came  to  vote,  on  the  pre 
liminary  questions,  it  was  apparent  that  the  party  line  was 
just  as  rigid  among  its  members  as  between  the  advocates 
who  pled.  And  it  was  clear  that  the  Republicans  stood  upon 
the  narrowest  possible  construction  of  the  case  before  them. 
For  example,  in  the  case  of  Louisiana,  it  was  moved,  first, 
that  evidence  be  admitted  that  the  returning  body  was  an  un 
constitutional  body  and  its  acts  void.  No,  said  the  Repub 
lican  eight.  Moved,  next,  that  evidence  be  admitted  that 
the  board  was  illegal  because  its  acting  members  were  all 
of  one  party, — No.  Moved,  that  evidence  be  admitted  that 
the  board  threw  out  votes  dishonestly  and  fraudulently, — 
No.  In  each  case,  the  Republican  eight  refused  to  look  a 
hair's  breadth  beyond  the  governor's  seal  to  the  returning 
board's  certificate.  In  the  same  way  they  dealt  with  Florida 
and  South  Carolina. 

Tilden's  friends  had  contrived  an  ingenious  scheme  to 
put  the  commission  in  a  dilemma.  They  had  managed  that 


Reconstruction:     The  Last  Act 

there  should  be  two  returns  from  Oregon, — a  Republican 
State  where  one  of  the  three  electors  chosen  was  claimed  to 
be  disqualified, — the  return  bearing  the  Governor's  seal 
naming  one  Democrat  along  with  two  Republican  electors. 
They  argued,  Sauce  for  the  goose  is  sauce  for  the  gander ; 
if  the  Governor's  seal  is  taken  as  settling  everything,  we 
gain  the  one  electoral  vote  we  need ;  if,  confronted  by  the 
Oregon  case,  the  commission  decide  that  they  may  go  back 
of  the  governor's  seal, — that  opens  the  three  Southern  States 
to  our  rightful  challenge.  But  the  commission,  or  its  Re 
publican  members,  were  not  to  be  so  easily  posed;  in  the 
case  of  Oregon,  they  accepted  the  seal  of  the  Secretary  of 
State,  certifying  the  three  Republicans.  As  the  Springfield 
Republican  bluntly  put  it,  "  The  electoral  commission  de 
cided  that  there  was  no  way  of  recovering  the  stolen  goods 
in  the  Louisiana  case ;  it  has  found  a  way  of  restoring  the 
Oregon  vote  to  its  rightful  owner." 

That  the  goods  were  stolen,  at  least  in  Louisiana,  there 
can  scarcely  at  this  day  be  any  doubt.  Whether  the  com 
mission  did  its  duty  in  declining  to  investigate  and  right 
the  wrong  may  be  debated,  but  the  judgment  of  history  will 
probably  say  that  neither  equity  nor  statesmanship,  but 
partisanship  guided  the  decision.  Undoubtedly  in  Louisiana, 
and  probably  in  Florida,  the  returning  board  deliberately 
threw  out  some  thousands  of  votes  for  no  other  reason  than 
to  change  the  State's  vote,  and  the  Presidency.  The  com 
mission  refused  to  correct  or  even  investigate  the  wrong, 
on  the  plea  of  scrupulous  respect  for  State  rights.  A  great 
victory  for  the  principle  of  local  rights,  argues  Senator 
Hoar  in  his  autobiography.  Possibly.  But  it  is  also  open 
to  say,  that  the  general  government  having  tolerated  and 
supported  an  iniquitous  local  oligarchy,  a  special  and 
supreme  tribunal  of  the  nation  allowed  that  oligarchy  to 
decide  the  Presidency  by  a  fraud. 


352  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

The  popular  judgment  of  the  matter  at  the  North  was 
largely  affected  by  the  belief  that  the  frauds  of  the  Repub 
licans  were  offset  by  intimidation  on  the  part  of  the  Demo 
crats.  In  various  parts  of  the  South,  notably  in  Mississippi 
and  South  Carolina,  and  probably  in  Louisiana,  there 
was  a  wide  terrorizing  of  the  negro  Republicans.  "  One 
side  was  about  as  bad  as  the  other,"  was  a  common  feeling. 
A  year  or  two  later,  the  New  York  Tribune  unearthed  and 
translated  a  number  of  cipher  telegrams,  which  disclosed 
that  while  the  dispute  over  the  result  was  going  on,  agents 
high  in  the  confidence  of  the  Democratic  leaders  made  efforts 
to  buy  up  a  returning  board  or  a  presidential  elector.  So 
both  parties  were  badly  smirched,  and  the  election  and  its 
sequel  furnished  one  of  the  most  desperate  and  disreputable 
passages  in  American  politics. 

Yet  the  better  sentiment  of  the  country,  triumphant  in 
the  creation  of  the  commission,  but  baffled  by  its  partisan 
action,  shone  clear  again  when  the  decision  was  deliberately 
and  calmly  accepted  by  the  beaten  party.  Congress  had 
reserved  to  itself  the  power  to  reverse  by  a  concurrent  vote 
of  both  Houses  the  commission's  decision  upon  any  State. 
But  each  decision  was  accepted  by  a  party  vote,  except  that 
in  the  case  of  Louisiana  two  Massachusetts  Republicans, 
Julius  H.  Seelye  and  Henry  L.  Pierce,  spoke  and  voted 
against  their  party.  But  when  the  final  count  gave  a  majority 
to  Hayes,  the  formal  declaration  of  the  result  was  supported 
by  all  save  about  eighty  irreconcilables,  chiefly  Northern 
Democrats,  who  were  overborne  in  a  stormy  night  session. 
It  had  become  simply  a  question  between  order  and  anarchy, 
and  the  party  of  order,  by  a  strange  chance,  was  led  for  the 
occasion  by  Fernando  Wood,  the  "  copperhead  "  of  earlier 
days.  For  the  body  of  the  Southern  Democrats,  Henry  Wat- 
terson  spoke  manly  words,  accepting  the  inevitable  with 
resolution  and  dignity.  But  among  the  influences  that 


Reconstruction:     The  Last  Act          353 

weighed  with  the  Southern  Congressmen  was  the  assurance 
from  Hayes's  friends  that  as  President  he  would  make  an 
end  of  military  interference  in  the  South.  In  the  giving 
of  the  assurance  there  was  nothing  unworthy,  for  the  with 
drawal  of  the  troops  was  dictated  by  the  whole  logic  of  re 
cent  events,  and  was  in  keeping  with  Hayes's  convictions. 
So,  quickly  following  the  inauguration  of  President  Hayes 
came  the  withdrawal  of  the  blue-coats  from  South  Carolina 
and  Louisiana  and  the  Republican  State  governments 
tumbled  like  card  houses.  Nicholls  took  the  governorship 
in  New  Orleans  and  Hampton  in  Columbia.  But  it  was  not 
by  this  act  alone  that  the  new  President  inaugurated  a  new 
regime.  He  called  to  his  Cabinet  as  postmaster-general, 
David  M.  Key,  of  Tennessee,  who  had  fought  for  the  Con 
federacy.  Schurz,  liberal  and  reformer  of  the  first  rank, 
was  given  the  department  of  the  interior.  Evarts  in  the 
State  department;  Devens,  of  Massachusetts,  as  attorney- 
general  ;  Sherman  in  the  treasury,  to  complete  the  work  of 
resumption ;  McCrary,  of  Iowa,  and  Thompson,  of  Indiana, 
for  the  war  and  navy;  and  Elaine,  Morton,  Conkling, 
Chandler, — nowhere.  The  administration  went  steadily  on 
its  way,  little  loved  by  the  old  party  chiefs;  under  some 
shadow  from  the  character  of  its  title ;  but  doing  good  work, 
achieving  resumption  of  specie  payments;  ending  the  ad 
ministrative  scandals  which  had  grown  worse  to  the  end 
of  Grant's  term;  reforming  the  civil  service.  It  was  a 
peaceful  and  beneficent  revolution,  and  in  its  quiet  years 
the  Southern  turmoils  subsided,  and  for  better  or  for  worse 
South  Carolina  and  Mississippi  worked  out  their  own  way 
as  New  York  and  Ohio  worked  out  theirs. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI 

REGENERATION 

"  EVIL  is  good  in  the  making,"  says  the  optimist  philosopher. 
Even  the  more  sober  view  of  life  reveals 

That  men  may  rise  on  stepping-stones 
Of  their  dead  selves  to  higher  things. 

Out  of  the  calamities  and  horrors  of  war  came  to  the 
nation  a  larger  life.  Communities  had  been  lifted  out  of 
pettiness,  churches  had  half  forgotten  their  sectarianism, 
to  millions  of  souls  a  sublimer  meaning  in  life  had  been  dis 
closed.  Lowell  said  it  in  two  lines: 

Earth's    biggest    country's    got    her    soul, 
And  risen  up  earth's  greatest  nation. 

The  South  had  suffered  far  more  than  the  North,  and  the 
South  reaped  the  larger  profit.  The  fallacy  of  the  old  South 
ern  civilization  had  been  the  idea  that  labor  is  a  curse  and 
is  to  be  shirked  on  to  somebody  else.  Overthrow  and  im 
poverishment  brought  labor  as  a  necessity  to  every  one, 
and  slowly  it  was  revealed  as  a  blessing. 

When  General  Lee,  stately  in  figure  and  bearing  and 
splendid  in  dress,  met  in  surrender  the  sturdy  Grant,  in 
worn  and  homely  service  uniform,  it  was  emblematic  of 
the  yielding  of  the  aristocratic  order  to  the  industrial  democ 
racy.  There  was  significance  in  the  victor's  kindly  words, — 
"  Let  your  soldiers  keep  their  horses ;  they  will  need  them 
when  they  get  home  for  the  spring  plowing."  That  was 

354 


Regeneration 

it, — they  turned  from  chargers  to  plow-horses,  and  much 
to  their  safety  and  gain.  Their  masters,  too,  from  fighters 
became  toilers,  and  if  it  seemed  a  fall  it  proved  a  rise. 

Before  long  on  the  street  cars  of  Charleston  and  New 
Orleans  were  seen  young  men  of  good  family  as  drivers 
and  conductors.  Anything  for  an  honest  living!  Our  fine 
old  friend,  Thomas  Dabney,  had  been  ruined  along  with 
everybody  else.  He  and  his  family  undauntedly  set  them 
selves  to  do  their  own  household  work.  General  Sherman 
was  reported  to  have  said,  "  It  would  be  a  good  thing  if  this 
sent  every  Southern  woman  to  the  wash-tub."  "  Did  Sher 
man  say  that  ? "  said  Dabney ;  "  he  shall  not  send  my 
daughters  to  the  wash-tub ! "  and  the  old  hero  turned 
laundry-man  for  the  family  as  long  as  the  need  lasted.  But 
the  educated  class  soon  found  fitter  work  than  as  laundry- 
men  or  car  conductors.  The  more  exacting  places  called 
for  occupants.  There  was  a  great  enlistment  in  the  ranks 
of  teachers.  Lee  took  the  presidency  of  Washington  uni 
versity  and  gave  to  its  duties  the  same  whole-hearted  serv 
ice,  the  same  punctilious  care,  that  he  had  given  to  the 
command  of  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia.  In  peace  as 
in  war  he  was  an  exemplar  to  his  countrymen, — and  his 
countrymen  now  were  spread  from  Maine  to  California. 

But  what  was  to  be  the  fate  of  the  emancipated  negro? 
Jefferson  had  believed  that  he  must  be  sent  back  to  Africa. 
"  Colonization  "  had  been  the  watchword  of  Southern  eman 
cipators,  so  long  as  there  were  any.  Even  Lincoln  appar 
ently  looked  to  that.  But  wholesale  colonization  was  clearly 
impossible.  The  freedmen  neither  could  nor  would  be 
transported  in  a  body  to  Africa.  And  had  it  been  possible 
it  would  have  stripped  the  land  of  laborers  and  left  it  a 
waste. 

The  South's  assumption  was  that  the  negro  was  intrin 
sically  an  inferior  and  must  be  kept  subordinate  to  the 


356  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

white  man.  The  North,  in  its  management  of  political 
reconstruction,  had  practically  assumed  that  the  negro  was 
the  equal  of  the  white  man  and  was  so  to  be  treated.  There 
was  a  third  view  of  the  matter, — that  the  negro  was  at  an 
inferior  stage  of  manhood,  and  the  necessary  task  was  to 
develop  him.  He  is  a  man,  but  an  imperfect  man, — make 
him  a  whole  man.  To  that  end  some  of  the  finest  forces 
of  the  nation  were  now  directed.  But  the  invigorating  and 
commanding  spirit,  who  conceived  the  saving  idea,  put  it 
into  practice,  and  gave  guidance  and  inspiration  to  both 
races, — the  man  who  found  the  way  out  was  Samuel  Chap 
man  Armstrong. 

He  came  of  Scotch-Irish  blood,  and  of  sturdy  farming 
stock,  bred  in  the  fertile  fields  of  Pennsylvania  and  in  the  best 
traditions  of  Christianity.  His  father  and  mother  gave 
themselves  to  the  missionary  work,  in  that  lofty  enthusiasm 
whose  wave  swept  through  the  country  early  in  the  nine 
teenth  century.  The  boy  was  born  in  1839  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  and  grew  up  in  the  joy-giving  climate,  with  a  happy 
boy-life,  swimming  the  sea  and  climbing  the  mountains ; 
trained  firmly  and  kindly  in  obedience  and  service;  im 
pressed  by  the  constant  presence  in  the  home  of  unselfish 
and  consecrated  lives.  As  he  grew  older,  his  bright  eyes 
studied  the  native  character,  emotional,  genial,  unstable; 
he  saw  the  wholesale  conversions  to  Christianity,  speedy, 
happy,  and  well-nigh  barren  of  fruit.  Going  to  America 
for  his  education,  he  completed  it  at  Williams  College  under 
the  presidency  of  Mark  Hopkins.  Garfield  said  that  his 
conception  of  a  university  was  a  pine  "bench  with  Mark 
Hopkins  at  one  end  and  a  student  at  the  other.  He  gave 
a  stimulus  alike  intellectual  and  moral ;  his  special  teaching 
was  in  philosophy,  broadly  reasoned,  nobly  aimed,  closely 
applied  to  the  daily  need.  Armstrong  spoke  of  him  in  later 
years  as  his  spiritual  father.  Graduating  in  1862,  he  enlisted 


Regeneration  357 

in  the  Union  army,  took  his  share  in  Gettysburg  and  other 
fights,  became  an  officer  of  negro  troops,  and  rose  to  a 
brigadier-generalship.  He  said  that  to  him,  born  abroad, 
the  cause  of  Union  made  no  strong  appeal, — what  he  was 
fighting  for  was  the  freedom  of  the  slaves.  The  war 
finished,  he  left  the  army,  entered  the  service  of  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau  under  General  Oliver  O.  Howard,  and  was 
assigned  to  the  Jamestown  peninsula  in  Virginia.  There 
were  huddled  together  thousands  of  the  freedmen, — the 
unconscious  cause  of  the  war,  the  problem  of  the  future, 
— simple,  half-dazed,  a  mixture  of  good  and  bad,  of  physical 
strength,  kindly  temper,  crude  morals  and  childish  igno 
rance.  For  a  time  the  officials  of  the  Bureau,  as  best  they 
could,  kept  order,  found  work,  settled  quarrels,  and  pro 
moted  schools.  But  what  was  to  be  the  large  outcome? 

Armstrong  had  been  known  to  his  associates  as  a  man  of 
splendid  and  many-sided  vitality.  A  college  classmate,  Dr. 
John  Denison,  graphically  describes  him,  "  A  sort  of  cata 
clysm  of  health,  like  other  cyclones  from  the  South  seas  " ; 
what  the  Tennessee  mountaineers  call  "  plumb  survigrous  " ; 
an  islander,  with  the  high  courage  and  jollity  of  the  tar; 
"  a  kind  of  mental  as  well  as  physical  amphibiousness." 
Extraordinary  in  his  training  and  versatility ;  able  to  "  man 
age  a  boat  in  a  storm,  teach  a  school,  edit  a  newspaper, 
assist  in  carrying  on  a  government,  take  up  a  mechanical 
industry  at  will,  understand  the  natives,  sympathize  with 
the  missionaries,  talk  with  profound  theorists,  recite  well 
in  Greek  or  mathematics,  conduct  an  advanced  class  in 
geometry,  and  make  no  end  of  fun  for  little  children."  He 
had  had  the  training  of  a  missionary  station  in  a  Robinson 
Crusoe-like  variety  of  functions.  A  knight-errant  to  the 
core,  the  atmosphere  of  Williams  under  Hopkins  gave  him 
his  consecration.  His  comrades  recognized  him  as  an 
intellectual  leader,  essentially  religious  but  often  startlingly 


358  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

unconventional,  "  under  great  terrestrial  headway,"  "  the 
most  strenuous  man  I  ever  saw."  He  said  of  himself :  "  mis 
sionary  or  pirate." 

Now  after  the  sobering  of  three  years  of  campaigning 
his  immediate  duties  brought  him  face  to  face  with  the  tre 
mendous  problem  of  the  negro,  and  the  elements  of  the 
solution  already  lay  in  his  own  character,  experience,  per 
sonality. 

What  were  the  assets  of  the  negro?  He  had,  by  inheri 
tance  and  training,  the  capacity  and  instinct  of  labor. 
What  an  advantage  that  is  appears  by  the  contrast  with  the 
Indian,  who  is  perishing  for  want  of  just  that.  But  the  negro 
knew  labor  only  as  the  hard  necessity  of  his  lot, — it  had 
to  him  no  higher  significance.  "  Education,"  was  the  watch 
word  of  the  generous  spirits  of  another  race  who  were 
coming  to  his  help.  They  found  at  first  great  promise  in 
the  freedman's  eagerness  to  learn  reading  and  writing.  But 
it  soon  appeared  that  this  was  an  outreaching  toward  some 
vague  social  advantage,  and  that  the  actual  acquisition 
through  speller  and  copybook  carried  him  and  his  children 
but  a  little  way  up.  It  was  a  pressing  necessity  to  provide 
teachers,  and  of  his  own  race;  so,  rightly  and  naturally, 
were  founded  the  normal  school  and  the  college.  He  needed 
his  own  educated  preachers,  physicians,  lawyers ;  for  these, 
too,  there  must  be  training.  So,  rightly  and  naturally,  were 
planted  universities, — Atlanta,  Fisk,  Howard.  It  was  an 
unquestioned  creed  that  the  white  man's  training  as 
preacher,  lawyer,  physician,  teacher,  must  begin  with  years 
of  Latin  and  Greek ;  so  what  other  way  for  the  negro  ?  So, 
as  almost  inevitable,  the  early  education  of  the  race  began 
as  a  copy  of  the  white  man's  methods.  But  sadly  inad 
equate,  alas,  as  we  begin  to  see,  is  a  classical  education 
for  the  typical  white  man  of  our  time ;  and  immense  was  the 
gap  between  the  teaching  of  which  that  was  the  core  and 


Regeneration  359 

crown,  and  the  wants  of  the  black  field-hands  and  their 
children. 

Labor,  education, — and  what  of  religion?  The  slave 
had  found  in  Christianity,  often  in  rude,  half-barbaric 
forms,  a  consolation,  a  refuge,  a  tenderness  and  hope,  to 
which  we  can  scarcely  do  justice.  Perhaps  its  most  elo 
quent  expression  to  our  imagination  is  those  wonderful  old- 
time  melodies,  the  negro  "  spirituals,"  as  they  have  been 
made  familiar  by  the  singers  of  the  negro  colleges.  Their 
words  are  mystic,  Scriptural,  grotesque ;  the  melodies  have 
a  pathos,  a  charm,  a  moving  power,  born  out  of  the  heart's 
depths  through  centuries  of  sorrow  dimly  lighted  by  glim 
merings  of  a  divine  love  and  hope.  The  typical  African 
temperament,  the  tragedy  of  bondage,  the  tenderness  and 
triumph  of  religion,  find  voice  in  those  psalms. 

Religion  is  not  to  be  despised  because  it  is  not  altogether 
or  even  largely  ethical.  The  heart  depressed  by  drudgery, 
hardship,  forlornness,  craves  not  merely  moral  guidance 
but  exhilaration  and  ecstacy.  Small  wonder  if  it  seeks  it 
in  whisky ;  better  surely  if  it  finds  it  in  hymns  and  prayers 
and  transports  partly  of  the  flesh  yet  touched  by  the  spirit. 
Further,  by  faithful  masters  and  mistresses  there  was  given 
to  the  slave's  religion,  in  many  cases,  a  clear  and  strong 
sense  of  moral  obligation.  Uncle  Tom  in  his  saintliness 
may  be  an  idealization,  but  the  elements  were  drawn  from 
life. 

Yet  the  slave's  and  so  the  freedman's  religion  was  very 
one-sided  and  out  of  all  proportion  emotional.  Its  habitual 
aim  was  occasional  transport  on  earth  and  rapture  in 
heaven.  Of  the  day's  task,  of  homely  fidelities  and  services, 
of  marriage  and  parenthood  and  neighborhood  and  citizen 
ship,  it  made  almost  no  account. 

Face  to  face  with  these  impoverished  and  groping  souls, 
what  had  Armstrong,  in  his  experience,  knowledge,  person- 


360  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

ality,  with  which  to  meet  them  ?  "  He  was  filled  through  and 
through  " — the  quotation  is  from  the  admirable  biograph 
ical  sketch  by  his  daughter — "  with  a  deep  sense  that  by 
hard  work  alone  can  any  of  us  be  saved — a  sense  based  on 
many  obscure  foundations  of  observation  and  deduction. 
Away  back  in  the  corners  of  his  mind  were  recollections 
of  sundry  wood-choppings  and  milkings  carried  on  under 
protest  by  himself  and  his  companions ;  and  knowledge,  too, 
of  how  his  father  and  mother  had  spent  their  ambitious 
youth  in  work,  the  mother  spinning  by  the  fireside,  the 
father  doing  chores  at  his  home  in  Pennsylvania.  It  was 
the  boys  who  faced  and  conquered  hard  physical  jobs  that 
became  the  men  of  endurance  later."  He  had  seen  and 
shared  the  devotion  of  the  missionary  spirit,  and  had  seen, 
too,  how  largely  it  failed  of  fruit  by  being  spent  on  super 
natural  conversion  and  mystical  emotion.  He  knew  the 
tropical  temperament,  common  to  Hawaiian  and  negro, — 
how  accessible  to  transient  fervor,  how  deficient  in  per 
sistence  and  continuity.  He  had  watched  his  father's  opera 
tions,  as  minister  of  public  instruction  under  the  Hawaiian 
king;  his  experiments  in  more  practical  and  prosaic  educa 
tion  and  religion,  half  frowned  on  by  the  ecclesiastics  of 
America,  but  rich  in  suggestion.  He  knew  that  the  Hilo 
manual  labor  school,  where  the  boys  paid  their  expenses 
by  labor,  slightly  trained,  was  a  marked  success.  His 
intensely  active  nature  had  caught  from  Hopkins  the  phil 
osophic  outlook,  and  the  human  materials  were  before  him 
in  rich  abundance.  Above  all,  while  unspeculative  in  relig 
ion,  and  content  to  employ  its  traditional  forms, — "  they're 
imperfect  enough,  "  he  said,  "  but  they're  the  best  we've 
got " — the  instincts  of  his  great  and  disciplined  nature  sent 
him  straight  to  the  central  realities  of  character,  which  are 
the  true  foundations  of  society. 

His  ideal  crystallized  by  that  swift  and  sudden  process  in 


Regeneration  361 

which  the  long  subconscious  growth  of  the  mind  sometimes 
comes  to  fruitage.  He  said  in  later  years  that  before  he 
entered  the  Bureau's  service,  while  sailing  on  a  troop-ship 
to  Texas,  he  saw  as  in  a  dream  his  school  much  as  it  after 
ward  became.  Twice  afterward  the  vision  came  to  him. 
Stationed  at  Hampton  in  1866,  while  he  wras  bringing  order 
out  of  the  chaos  around  him,  his  mind  was  reaching  for 
ward  surely  and  swiftly  to  his  larger  project. 

This  was  the  germ  thought:  Character  is  to  get  its 
direction  and  energy  in  the  day's  work.  Just  as  man's 
physical  needs  drive  him  to  toil,  his  spiritual  necessities  find 
their  best  field  and  cultivation  in  the  same  toil.  The  freed- 
men's  first  need  is  to  earn  a  living;  then  to  acquire  such  a 
margin  as  will  allow  some  little  ease  and  comfort  and  refine 
ment;  and  along  with  these  goes  the  need  of  good  habits, 
high  aims,  disciplined  character.  Teach  the  industrial  les 
son  and  the  moral  lesson  together.  Train  them  to  work 
intelligently  and  cheerfully;  teach  them  at  the  same  time 
whatever  of  book  knowledge  best  fits  their  need ;  and  con 
stantly  inspire  them  with  the  spirit  of  service  to  their  kind. 
Provide  in  this  way  for  some  hundreds  of  young  men  and 
women,  who  shall  go  out  as  teachers  to  educate  and  train 
their  people  along  these  lines. 

That  was  the  ideal, — the  germ  of  Hampton,  of  Tuskegee, 
of  the  new  education  of  the  negro ;  the  suggestion  and  stim 
ulant  of  the  new  education  as  it  is  coming  to  be  for  the 
white. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 

ARMSTRONG 

ARMSTRONG  was  a  man  of  action,  and  of  words  only  as 
far  as  they  helped  action.  He  reached  the  starting  of  his 
school  in  1868,  within  two  years  after  he  was  assigned  to 
duty  at  Hampton.  For  external  help  he  had  first  the 
countenance  and  support  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau.  He  was 
in  its  service  and  pay  until  1872.  He  had  the  warm  and 
practical  friendship  of  General  Howard,  who,  after  invi 
ting  him  to  take  charge  of  the  new  university  in  Washing 
ton  bearing  his  own  name,  skilfully  gained  for  his  Hamp 
ton  enterprise  a  moderate  appropriation  from  Congress. 
If  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  had  accomplished  nothing  else, — 
and  it  did  accomplish  much,  especially  in  education — it 
would  have  been  justified  merely  by  giving  Armstrong  his 
opportunity.  Next  he  turned  to  private  benevolence.  Of 
the  various  organizations,  church  and  secular,  that  were 
devising  and  doing  for  the  freedmen,  perhaps  the  most 
efficient  was  the  American  Missionary  Association.  From 
its  officers  Armstrong  won  response,  sympathy,  contribu 
tions.  He  had  to  face  the  difficulties  of  a  pioneer.  There 
were  precedents  against  him.  Experiments  somewhat  sim 
ilar  had  been  tried  and  failed.  At  Mount  Holyoke  seminary 
for  women,  created  by  the  genius  and  devotion  of  Mary 
Lyon,  and  at  Oberlin  college,  where  the  best  New  England 
tradition  had  been  transplanted — there  had  been  long  and 
earnest  trial  of  giving  the  students  work  by  which  to  par 
tially  pay  their  expenses.  But  it  had  been  given  up, — the 
women  students  were  taxed  beyond  their  strength;  the 

362 


Armstrong  363 

farmers  complained  that  the  boys  were  thinking  of  their 
books,  and  the  teachers  said  their  pupils  came  with  half 
strength  to  their  lessons.  But  Armstrong  knew  the  material 
he  was  dealing  with,  and  how  different  from  the  nervous, 
high-strung  pupils  of  Oberlin  and  Mount  Holyoke  was  the 
vigorous,  sensuous  material  he  was  to  mold. 

He  began  in  April,  1868,  with  small  things, — a  matron, 
a  teacher,  fifteen  pupils  and  buildings  worth  $15,000.  In 
a  month  there  were  thirty  pupils.  Things  moved  straight 
on, — they  were  moved  by  the  assiduity,  the  enthusiasm,  the 
inspiration,  of  Armstrong,  and  the  answering  temper  which 
he  woke  in  pupils,  teachers,  contributors,  observers.  Pres 
ently  a  special  effort,  an  appeal  to  friends,  solicitude, 
students  zealously  making  bricks  and  laying  them,  help 
from  General  Howard — and  so,  in  1870,  a  noble  building, 
Academic  Hall,  and  presently  again,  Virginia  Hall, — and 
the  school  kept  growing. 

Its  moral  success  was  promptly  won.  The  subject 
answered  to  the  experiment, — those  dark-skinned  boys  and 
girls  came  eager  to  learn.  No  one  had  believed  in  them, 
and  they  had  not  believed  in  themselves,  but  they  speedily 
learned  self-respect  and  gained  the  respect  of  others.  They 
did  what  was  asked  of  them,  earned  most  of  their  support, 
showed  good  workmanship  and  scholarship,  were  blameless 
in  morals,  caught  the  spirit  of  the  place,  and  went  out  to 
carry  light  into  the  dark  places.  No  holiday  task  was  set 
them.  There  was  a  working  day  of  twelve  hours,  between 
the  class-room,  the  work-shop,  the  drill-ground  and  the 
field,  with  rare  and  brief  snatches  of  recreation.  They  met 
the  demand  with  a  resource  inherited  from  their  ancestors' 
long  years  of  patient  labor.  The  hard  toil  was  a  moral 
safeguard.  The  African  race  is  sensuous,  and  co-education 
might  seem  perilous.  The  danger  was  completely  averted 
by  the  influence  of  labor,  strenuous  and  constant,  but 


364  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

diversified  and  interesting.  The  essentials  of  character, — 
industry,  chastity,  truth  and  honesty,  serviceable  good-will, 
—were  the  aim  and  result  of  the  Hampton  training;  and 
all  ran  back  to  the  homely  root  that  man  should  be  trained 
to  earn  intelligently  and  faithfully  his  daily  bread. 

The  story  of  Hampton  is  a  theme  not  for  a  chapter  but 
for  a  volume.  How  its  founder  won  favor  and  friendship 
by  his  tact  and  large-mindedness ;  how  he  established  good 
relations  with  the  Virginians ;  how  the  Institute  became  the 
parent  of  other  schools ;  how  Booker  Washington  was  there 
fitted  for  the  founding  of  Tuskegee  and  the  leadership  of 
his  race;  how  the  work  was  extended  to  the  Indians;  how 
Armstrong's  spirit  and  example  gathered  and  inspired  a 
company  of  teachers  perhaps  unsurpassed, — mostly  women, 
whose  refining  influence  on  the  pupils  he  specially  valued; 
how  he  dreamed  of  what  he  never  reached,  some  day  to 
give  industrial  education  at  Hampton  to  the  whites;  how 
a  worthy  successor  took  his  place,  efficient  and  self-effacing ; 
how  deeply  the  Hampton  idea  has  permeated  the  education 
of  the  Southern  negro,  and  is  coming  to  influence  white 
education  North  and  South, — all  this  can  here  be  recalled 
but  by  a  word. 

But  on  the  personality  of  its  leader  we  must  for  a  moment 
linger,  to  note  one  or  two  of  its  traits.  His  splendid  vitality 
overflowed  at  times  in  frolic  and  extravagance.  He  never 
lost  the  spirit  of  the  boy.  He  would  come  into  a  group  of 
his  serious-minded  teachers  and  say,  "  Oh !  what's  the  good 
of  saving  souls  if  you  can't  have  any  fun  ?  "  and  start  a 
frolic  or  organize  an  all-day  picnic.  In  his  home  he  intro 
duced  "  puss  in  the  corner  "  and  "  the  Presbyterian  war- 
dance  "  among  the  very  elect.  He  delighted  his  children 
with  romances.  "Like  Dr.  Hopkins,  he  believed  that  the 
class-room  should  be  a  jolly  place,  and  used  to  say  that  no 
recitation  was  complete  without  at  least  one  good  laugh. 


Armstrong  365 

'  Laughter  makes  sport  of  work/  he  said."  His  teaching 
sometimes  came  in  a  droll  story.  "  Once  there  was  a  wood- 
chuck.  .  .  .  Now,  woodchucks  can't  climb  trees.  Well, 
this  woodchuck  was  chased  by  a  dog  and  came  to  a  tree. 
He  knew  that  if  he  could  get  up  this  tree  the  dog  could  not 
catch  him.  Now,  woodchucks  can't  climb  trees,  but  he 
had  to,  so  he  did." 

His  devotion  to  his  work  was  so  whole-souled  that  it  was 
joyous  and  seemed  unconscious  of  cost.  In  the  touching 
pages  he  wrote  when  death  impended,  he  said,  "  I  never 
gave  up  or  sacrificed  anything  in  my  life."  Yet  he  con 
stantly  made  what  most  men  count  heavy  sacrifices.  His 
work  involved  frequent  and  laborious  trips  to  the  North  to 
arouse  interest  and  raise  money.  He  did  it  in  as  gallant  a 
fashion  as  he  had  led  a  charge,  or  as  he  made  appeal  to 
the  students  hanging  reverently  on  his  words.  A  glimpse 
of  him  on  one  of  these  begging  tours  is  given  by  Professor 
Francis  G.  Peabody: 

"  I  suppose  that  every  lover  of  General  Armstrong  recalls 
some  special  incident  which  seems  most  entirely  typical  of 
the  man's  life  and  heart.  For  my  part,  I  think  oftenest  of 
one  of  those  scenes  in  his  many  begging  journeys  to  the 
North.  It  was  at  a  little  suburban  church  far  down  a  side 
street  on  a  winter  night  in  the  midst  of  a  driving  storm  of 
sleet.  There  was,  as  nearly  as  possible,  no  congregation 
present;  a  score  or  so  of  humble  people,  showing  no  sign 
of  any  means  to  contribute,  were  scattered  through  the 
empty  spaces,  and  a  dozen  restless  boys  kicked  their  heels 
in  the  front  pew.  Then  in  the  midst  of  this  emptiness  and 
hopelessness  up  rose  the  worn,  gaunt  soldier,  as  bravely 
and  gladly  as  if  a  multitude  were  hanging  upon  his  words, 
and  his  deep-sunk  eyes  looked  out  beyond  the  bleakness  of 
the  scene  into  the  world  of  his  ideals,  and  the  cold  little 
place  was  aglow  with  the  fire  that  was  in  him,  and  it  was 


366  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

like  the  scene  on  the  Mount,  that  was  not  any  less  wonder 
ful  and  glistening  because  only  three  undiscerning  followers 
were  permitted  to  see  the  glory." 

Those  frequent  and  long  journeys  went  far  to  break  up 
the  happy  home  life  in  which  he  delighted,  with  the  wife 
whose  congenial  and  intimate  companionship  was  his  for 
nine  years  and  the  little  girls  to  whom  he  was  the  most 
delightful  of  fathers.  Then  for  twelve  years,  until  his 
second  marriage,  he  was  almost  a  homeless  man.  He  wore 
out  his  wonderful  constitution;  he  suffered  from  dyspepsia 
and  sleeplessness ;  a  paralytic  stroke  crippled  him ;  but  for 
a  year  and  a  half  he  struggled  on,  cheerful,  self-forgetful, 
— then  the  end. 

His  countrymen  scarcely  yet  realize  all  that  he  was.  He 
was  the  successful  leader  in  that  real  emancipation  of  the 
American  negro  to  which  the  legal  emancipation  was  but 
a  prelude.  Beyond  that,  it  would  hardly  be  too  much  to  say 
that  he  did  more  than  any  other  man  in  either  hemisphere 
to  rationalize  and  Christianize  our  still  half-medieval  sys 
tem  of  education.  The  working  ideals  of  Hampton  arc 
to-day  higher  than  those  of  Yale  and  Harvard.  It  may  be 
questioned  whether  any  professed  preacher  has  done  so 
much  to  develop  the  best  modern  type -of  religion;  centered 
in  daily  work,  reaching  out  into  all  human  service,  and 
consciously  inspired  by  the  divine  life.  It  would  not  be 
extravagant  to  say  that  in  the  little  group — perhaps  half  a 
dozen  in  all — whom  America  has  contributed  to  the  world's 
first  rank  of  great  men,  not  one  stands  higher  in  heroic 
manhood  and  far-reaching  service  than  Samuel  Arm 
strong. 

But  any  comparison  seems  almost  unworthy  of  his  lofty 
spirit.  There  is  no  rivalry  among  the  saints.  Would  that 
Armstrong  could  here  be  portrayed  as  he  appeared  in  life. 
The  outer  man  spoke  well  the  inner.  To  look  upon,  he  was 


Armstrong  367 

a  thoroughbred;  of  soldierly  bearing,  alert,  vivid,  noble; 
with  the  twinkle  of  mirth,  the  flash  of  resistless  purpose, — 
a  man  to  love,  to  revere,  to  follow.  As  a  sort  of  mental 
portrait-sketch,  we  may  glean  a  few  of  his  sayings.  It  was 
as  true  of  him  as  of  Luther  that  his  words  were  half-battles. 
They  wrere  flashed  out  like  sparks  struck  from  action.  As 
to  his  special  work,  these: 

"  The  North  thinks  that  the  great  thing  is  to  free  the 
negro  from  his  former  owner ;  the  real  thing  is  to  save  him 
from  himself." 

On  the  dissolution  of  the  American  Anti-slavery  Society, 
(because  nothing  remained  for  it  to  do) :  "  It  failed  to  see 
that  everything  remained.  Their  work  was  just  beginning 
when  slavery  was  abolished." 

"  I  cannot  understand  the  prevailing  views  of  the  war 
among  pious  and  intelligent  Americans.  It  is  simply  bar 
baric — to  whip  the  South  and  go  home  rejoicing,  to  build 
monuments  of  victory,  leaving  one-third  of  their  country 
men  in  the  depths  of  distress." 

"  The  reconstruction  measures  were  a  bridge  of  wood 
over  a  river  of  fire." 

(In  1878)  :  "Hereafter  it  will  be  seen  that  negro  suff 
rage  was  a  boon  to  the  race,  not  so  much  for  a  defense,  but 
i  as  a  tremendous  fact  that  compelled  its  education.  There 
I  is  nothing  to  do  but  attempt  its  education  in  every  possible 
way.  In  their  pinching  poverty  the  Southern  States  have 
seized  the  question  of  negro  education  with  a  vigor  that 
is  the  outcome  of  danger." 

(In  1887)  :  "The  political  experience  of  the  negro  has 
been  a  great  education  to  him.  In  spite  of  his  many 
blunders  and  unintentional  crimes  against  civilization,  he 
is  to-day  more  of  a  man  than  he  could  have  been  had  he 
not  been  a  voter." 

"  The  war  was  the  saving  of  the  South.    Defeat  and  ruin 


368  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

brought  more  material  prosperity  to  the  South  than  to  the 
North,  and  the  future  has  untold  advantages  in  store.  Edu 
cation  is  part  of  it,  but  capital  and  enterprise,  which  make 
men  work,  are  the  greater  part.  The  negro  and  poor  white, 
and,  more  than  all,  the  old  aristocrat,  are  being  saved  by 
hard  work,  which,  next  to  the  grace  of  God,  saves  our 
souls." 

"  We  hew  from  the  raw  material,  men  who  have  come 
out  of  deep  darkness  and  wrong,  without  inheritance  but 
of  savage  nature,  the  best  product  we  can,  and  care  as 
much  to  infuse  it  with  a  spiritual  life  and  divine  energy 
as  with  knowledge  of  the  saw,  plane,  and  hoe." 

And,  of  his  broader  outlook  on  life,  these :  "  I  am  con 
vinced  of  the  necessity  of  organizing  pleasure  as  well  as 
religion  in  order  to  sustain  Christian  morality." 

"  The  chief  comfort  in  life  is  babies." 

"  Politics  and  philanthropy  are  a  grind ;  only  when  one 
is  at  the  post  of  duty  and  knows  it,  there  is  a  sensation 
of  being  lifted  and  lifting  (et  tcneo  et  teneor)  which  some 
times  comes  gradually  over  one.  Detail  is  grinding,  the 
whole  inspiring.  God's  kings  and  priests  must  drudge  in 
seedy  clothes  before  they  can  wear  the  purple." 

"  From  the  deep  human  heart  to  the  infinite  heart  there 
is  a  line  along  which  will  pass  the  real  cry  and  the  sympa 
thetic  answer — a  double  flash  from  the  moral  magnetism 
that  fills  the  universe.  Its  conditions  are  not  found  in 
theological  belief,  but  in  the  spirit  of  a  little  child.  We  can 
no  more  understand  our  human  brother  than  our  Father  in 
heaven  without  bringing  faith — the  evidence  of  things 
unseen,  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for — to  our  aid." 

"All  progress  of  strong  hearts  is  by  action  and  reaction. 
Human  life  is  too  weak  to  be  an  incessant  eagle  flight 
toward  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  Wings  will  be  some 
times  folded  because  they  are  wings.  .  .  .  The  earthly 


Armstrong  369 

struggle  must  be  enduring — that  is  all.  There  must  be  no 
surrenders ;  we  can't  expect  much  of  victory  here." 

"  The  longer  I  live,  the  less  I  think  and  fear  about  what 
the  world  calls  success;  the  more  I  tremble  for  true  suc 
cess,  for  the  purity  and  sanctity  of  the  soul,  which  is  as  a 
temple." 

"  Doing  what  can't  be  done  is  the  glory  of  living." 

"  What  are  Christians  put  into  the  world  for  but  to  do 
the  impossible  in  the  strength  of  God  ?  " 

In  the  contemplation  of  such  a  spirit  we  rest  for  a  little 
from  the  turmoils  of  politics,  the  mixture  of  motives,  the 
half-successes.  Here  is  what  glorified  the  whole  business, 
— the  development  of  souls  like  this;  and  in  such  is  the 
promise  of  the  future.  Fitly  to  Armstrong  belongs  what 
Matthew  Arnold  has  written  of  his  father,  a  kindred  soul : — 

Servants  of  God ! — or  sons 
Shall  I  not  call  you?  because 
Not  as  servants  ye  knew 
Your  Father's  innermost  mind, 
His,  who  unwillingly  sees 
One  of  his  little  ones  lost— 
Yours  is  the  praise,  if  mankind 
Hath  not  as  yet  in  its  march 
Fainted,  and  fallen,  and  died  I 

See !    In  the  rocks  of  the  world 

Marches  the  host  of  mankind 

A  feeble,  wavering  line. 

Where  are  they  tending? — A  God 

Marshal'd  them,  gave  them  their  goal— 

Ah,  but  the  way  is  so  long! 

Years  they  have  been  in  the  wild! 
Sore  thirst  plagues  them,  the  rocks, 
Rising  all  round,  overawe; 
Factions  divide  them,  their  host 


370  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

Threatens  to  break,  to  dissolve — 
Ah,  keep,  keep  them  combined ! 
Else,  of  the  myriads  who  fill 
That  army,  not  one  shall  arrive; 
Sole  they  shall  stray;  on  the  rocks 
Batter  forever  in  vain, 
Die  one  by  one  in  the  waste. 

Then,  in  such  hour  of  need 

Of  your  fainting,  dispirited  race, 

Ye,  like  angels,  appear, 

Radiant  with  ardor  divine. 

Beacons  of  hope,  ye  appear! 

Languor  is  not  in  your  heart, 

Weakness  is  not  in  your  word, 

Weariness  not  on  your  brow. 

Ye  alight  in  our  van!  at  your  voice* 

Panic,  despair,  flee  away. 

Ye  move  through  the  ranks,  recall 

The  stragglers,  refresh  the  outworn, 

Praise,  re-inspire  the  brave. 

Order,  courage,  return; 

Eyes  rekindling,  and  prayers, 

Follow  your  steps  as  ye  go. 

Ye  fill  up  the  gaps  in  our  files, 

Strengthen  the  wavering  line, 

Stablish,  continue  our  march, 

On,  to  the  bound  of  the  waste, 

On,  to  the  City  of  God ! 


CHAPTER   XXXVIII 

EVOLUTION 

THE  story  of  slavery  merges  in  the  stories  of  the  white 
man  and  the  black  man,  to  which  there  is  no  end.  As  the 
main  period  to  the  present  study  we  have  taken  the  begin 
ning  of  President  Hayes's  administration  in  1877,  when  the 
withdrawal  of  Federal  troops  from  the  South  marked  the 
return  of  the  States  of  the  Union  to  their  normal  relations, 
and  also  marked  the  disappearance  of  the  negro  problem  as 
the  central  feature  in  national  politics.  From  that  time 
to  the  present  we  shall  take  but  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the 
fortunes  and  the  mutual  relation  of  the  two  races. 

The  people  of  the  Southern  States  realized  gradually  but 
at  last  fully  that  the  conduct  of  their  affairs  was  left  in  their 
own  hands.  From  this  time  there  was  no  important  Federal 
legislation  directed  specially  at  the  South.  The  restrictive 
laws  left  over  from  the  reconstruction  period  were  in  some 
cases  set  aside  by  the  Supreme  Court  and  in  general  passed 
into  abeyance.  There  was  rare  and  brief  discussion  of  a 
renewal  of  Federal  supervision  of  elections.  But  the 
Northern  people,  partly  from  rational  conviction  and  partly 
from  absorption  in  new  issues,  were  wholly  indisposed  to 
any  further  interference.  Without  such  interference  there 
was  no  slightest  chance  of  any  restoration  of  political 
preponderance  of  the  negroes  over  the  whites.  The  specter 
of  "  negro  domination  "  haunted  the  Southern  imagination 
long  after  it  had  become  an  impossibility.  Then  it  was  used 
as  a  bogy  by  small  politicians.  But  the  only  serious  attempt 
at  national  legislation  for  the  South  has  been  of  a  wholly 


372  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

different  character.  It  was  the  plan  of  Senator  Blair  of 
New  Hampshire,  long  urged  upon  Congress,  and  sometimes 
with  good  hope  of  success,  for  national  assistance  to  local 
education,  on  the  basis  of  existing  illiteracy,  for  a  term  of 
ten  years,  to  a  total  amount  of  $i(XD,ooo,ooo.  That  is  the 
only  kind  of  special  legislation  for  the  South  that  has  had 
any  chance  of  enactment  for  almost  thirty  years. 

Through  the  twelve  years  of  political  reconstruction, 
1865-77,  the  Southern  people  were  gradually  adapting  them 
selves  to  the  new  industrial  and  social  conditions.  Then  the 
body  of  the  whites,  finding  themselves  fully  restored  to 
political  mastery,  grasped  the  entire  situation  with  new 
clearness  and  vigor.  They  thrust  the  freedmen  not  only 
out  of  legislative  majorities  and  the  State  offices,  but  out  of 
all  and  any  effective  exercise  of  the  suffrage.  The  means 
were  various,  consisting  largely  of  indirect  and  technical 
hindrances,  "  tissue-paper  ballots "  and  the  like.  The 
intelligent  class  massed  against  the  ignorant  found  no 
serious  difficulty  in  having  their  own  way  at  all  points.  A 
considerable  number  of  negroes  still  voted,  and  had  their 
votes  counted,  but  their  party  was  always  somehow  put  in 
the  minority;  almost  all  offices  passed  out  of  their  hands; 
their  representatives  speedily  disappeared  from  Congress, 
and  before  long  from  the  Legislatures.  Negro  suffrage 
was  almost  nullified,  and  that,  too,  before  the  legislation  of 
the  last  decade. 

But,  in  asserting  their  complete  political  superiority,  the 
whites  also  recognized  a  large  responsibility  for  the  race  they 
controlled.  A  degree  of  civil  rights  was  secured  to  them, 
short  of  a  perfect  equality  with  the  whites,  but  far  beyond 
the  status  intended  by  the  "  black  codes  "  of  1865-6.  The 
fundamental  rights,  of  liberty  to  dispose  of  their  labor  and 
earnings  in  their  own  way,  and  protection  of  person  and 
property  by  the  law  and  the  courts,  were  substantially 


Evolution  373 

secured.  And,  very  notably,  the  common  school  education 
of  blacks  as  well  as  whites  was  undertaken  with  fidelity, 
energy  and  new  success.  This  great  and  vital  advance,  in 
augurated  by  the  Southern  Republican  governments,  was 
accepted  and  carried  on,  loyally  and  at  heavy  cost,  by  the 
succeeding  Democratic  governments.  The  figures  show  a 
great  advance  from  1875  to  1880  in  the  number  of  schools 
and  scholars  of  both  races  throughout  the  South.  Political 
inferiority  for  the  negroes,  but  civil  rights,  industrial  free 
dom,  and  rudimentary  education, — that  was  the  theory  and 
largely  the  practice  of  their  white  neighbors. 

One  clause  they  added  with  emphatic  affirmation :  "  I 
will  buy  with  you,  sell  with  you,  talk  with  you,  walk  with 
you,  and  so  following ;  but  I  will  not  eat  with  you,  drink  with 
you,  nor  pray  with  you."  Social  superiority,  indicated  by 
separation  in  all  the  familiar  and  courteous  intercourse  of 
daily  life,  was  asserted  by  the  whites  with  a  rigor  beyond 
that  of  the  days  of  slavery.  When  humiliated  and  stung  by 
the  political  ascendency  of  their  former  bondmen,  they 
wrapped  themselves  in  their  social  superiority  with  a  new 
haughtiness.  The  pride  of  race,  of  color,  of  the  owner 
above  the  serf,  stripped  of  its  old  power  and  insignia,  but 
no  whit  weakened  in  root  and  core,  set  an  adamantine,  wall 
along  the  line  of  social  familiarity.  Let  the  black  man  have 
his  own  place — in  school  and  church,  in  street  and  market 
and  hotel;  but  the  same  place,  never!  Separate  schools, 
churches,  cars.  And  as  in  a  hospitable  country  the  social 
meal  is  the  special  occasion  and  symbol  of  good  fellowship 
and  equal  comradeship,  right  there  let  the  line  be  fixed, — 
no  black  man  or  woman  shall  sit  at  table  with  whites. 

The  usage  came  down  by  tradition,  and  became  only  a 
little  more  rigid  under  the  new  conditions.  At  the  North 
the  general  practice  had  always  been  much  the  same ;  but 
there  it  was  occasionally  and  growingly  superseded,  when 


374  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

people  of  the  two  races  found  a  common  level  of  educa 
tion  and  manners.  The  Southern  whites  for  a  while  took 
their  own  practice  as  a  matter  of  course.  But  then,  espe 
cially  as  by  degrees  some  black  men  and  women  acquired 
mental  cultivation  and  social  polish, — then  came  question 
and  challenge  from  the  world  without  and  from  conscience 
within;  why  this  rigid  separation?  An  answer  must  be 
found  or  made, — and  presently  the  answer  appeared:  If 
white  and  black  men  and  women  eat  and  drink  together, 
play  and  work  together, — then  they  will  intermarry,  and 
the  white  race  will  become  mixed  and  degenerate.  So  that 
became  the  conviction,  the  creed,  the  shibboleth,  of  the 
Southern  whites, — race  purity,  to  be  safeguarded  by  com 
plete  prohibition  of  all  social  intimacy,  especially  as  sym 
bolized  by  the  common  meal.  And  the  prohibition  was  en 
forced  among  the  whites  by  the  penalty  of  sure  and  stern 
ostracism. 

Under  these  conditions,  then,  the  two  sections  of  the 
Southern  people  have  been  working  their  way,  for  almost 
thirty  years.  How  first  have  the  negroes  fared?  Of  the  pro 
phecies  for  their  future,  made  when  they  were  in  bondage 
and  in  view  of  possible  emancipation,  one  was  that  they 
would  die  out, — but  in  less  than  half  a  century  they  have 
doubled.  Another  was  that  if  freed  they  would  refuse  to 
work, — but  the  industrial  product  of  the  South  has  never 
fallen  off,  but  has  steadily  and  vastly  increased,  with  the 
negro  still  as  the  chief  laborer.  Another  prediction  was 
that  they  would  lapse  into  barbarism.  The  Southern  negroes 
as  a  mass  have  a  fringe  of  barbarism — a  heavy  fringe.  So 
has  every  community,  white,  black  or  yellow,  the  world 
over.  Have  the  Southern  blacks,  as  a  body,  moved  toward 
barbarism  or  toward  civilization  since  they  were  set  free  ? 

The  comparative  tests  between  civilization  and  barbarism 
are,  broadly  speaking,  productive  industry,  intelligence  and 


Evolution  375 

morality.  If  we  gauge  industry  by  results,  we  find  that  the 
class  which  forty  years  ago  entered  into  freedom  with  empty 
hands  now  owns  more  than  $300,000,000  of  property  by  the 
tax-gatherers'  lists.  Another  estimate — cited  by  Prof. 
Albert  Bushnell  Hart — puts  their  entire  property  holdings 
at  $500,000,000.  Though  most  of  them  are  tenants  or  hired 
laborers,  yet  there  are  more  than  173,000  who  own  their 
farms.  The  total  number  of  farms  worked  by  them  in  the 
South — owned,  leased,  or  rented  on  shares — is  figured 
at  700,000.  The  census  of  1900  shows  that  in  almost 
every  profession,  trade  and  handicraft  the  black  race  has 
numerous  representatives — their  range  of  occupation  and 
industrial  opportunity  being  far  wider  in  the  South  than  in 
the  North.  Taking  the  whole  country,  the  percentage  of 
adults  in  gainful  pursuits  is  a  trifle  higher  among  blacks 
than  among  whites.  Allow  for  the  more  frequent  employ 
ment  in  toil  of  the  black  woman;  allow,  too,  for  the  more 
intermittent  character  of  black  labor, — yet  the  relative 
showing  is  not  unfavorable  to  the  enfranchised  race.  And 
this  comparison  touches,  too,  the  more  difficult  problem  of 
morality, — for  industry  is  itself  a  chief  safeguard  of 
morality. 

As  to  intelligence,  the  statistics  show  that,  roughly  speak 
ing,  about  half  the  blacks  over  ten  years  old  can  read  and 
write.  That  is  not  much  below  the  status  of  the  people  of 
England  half  a  century  ago.  In  the  higher  fields  of  intelli 
gence,  the  American  negroes, — there  are  9,000,000  of  them, 
— supply  to-day  a  large  part  of  their  own  teachers,  minis 
ters,  lawyers  and  doctors,  and  in  all  these  professions  the 
standard  is  steadily  rising. 

In  regard  to  morality,  generalization  is  difficult.  There 
is  undoubtedly  a  much  larger  criminal  element  among  the 
blacks  than  among  the  whites.  There  are  proportionately 
more  crimes  against  property,  crimes  of  sensuality,  crimes 


376  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

of  violence.  Materials  are  wanting  for  exact  comparison, 
either  with  the  whites,  or  among  the  blacks  at  different 
periods.  Yet  there  are  few  or  no  sections  at  the  South, 
even  in  the  worst  parts  of  the  Black  Belt,  as  to  which 
the  public  gets  the  impression  of  any  general  lawlessness. 
And  in  any  comparison  of  the  present  with  the  time  of 
slavery,  we  must  remember  what  Carlyle  says  in  speaking 
of  the  cruelties  of  the  French  Revolution  as  compared 
with  those  of  the  tyranny  which  preceded  it, — when  the 
high-born  suffer  the  world  hears  of  it,  but  the  woes  of  the 
inarticulate  are  unheard.  Wrongs  at  the  South  which 
shock  us  to-day, — or  wrongs  as  great — were  common 
place,  were  unnoted  and  unchronicled,  under  slavery.  It 
is  offenses  against  women  that  rouse  the  hottest  resent 
ment.  But  for  centuries  the  black  woman's  chastity  had 
absolutely  no  protection  under  the  law,  and  her  woes  were 
pitiful  beyond  telling.  For  the  Southern  negro,  true  family 
life  was  impossible  until  within  fifty  years.  With  so  brief 
experience  in  the  best  school  of  character,  there  is  no 
ground  for  doubting  that  he  has  won  a  vast  moral  advance, 
and  the  promise  of  greater. 

Of  the  negroes,  as  of  every  race  or  community,  we  may 
consider  the  lowest  stratum,  the  great  mass,  and  the  leaders. 
Regarding  not  morality  only,  but  general  conditions,  there 
is  a  considerable  element  of  the  Southern  blacks  whose  con 
dition  is  most  pitiable.  Such  especially  are  many  of  the 
peasants  of  the  Black  Belt;  barely  able  to  support  them 
selves,  often  plundered  with  more  or  less  of  legality  by  land 
lord  and  storekeeper,  shut  up  to  heavy,  dull,  almost  hopeless 
lives.  Inheritance  weighs  on  them  as  well  as  environment ; 
when  these  plantations  were  recruited  from  Virginia,  it 
was  only  the  worst  of  the  slaves  whom  their  masters  would 
sell,  and  the  bad  elements  propagated  their  like.  The  case 
of  these  people  to-day  presents  one  of  the  open  sores,  the 


Evolution  377 

unanswered  questions, — we  might  say  the  impossible  tasks, 
did  we  not  remember  Armstrong's  attitude  toward  things 
"  impossible."  Yet,  even  as  to  these, — are  they  not  better 
off  than  when  enslaved  ?  A  part  of  their  trouble  is  the  bur 
den  of  responsibility — for  themselves,  their  wives  and  chil 
dren.  In  slavery  they  had  no  responsibility  beyond  the 
day's  task;  the  whip  and  the  full  stomach  were  the  two 
extremes  of  their  possibilities.  Now  at  least  they  are  men 
— with  manhood's  burdens,  but  with  its  possibilities,  too. 

Of  the  great  middle  class,  something  has  already  been 
said,  as  to  industry,  property  and  education.  But  statistics 
are  cold  and  dead,  could  we  but  see  the  living  human  reali 
ties  which  they  vainly  try  to  express.  The  growth  of  a 
slave,  or  a  slave's  child,  into  a  free  man  or  woman, — the 
birth  and  development  of  true  family  life, — could  we  see 
this  in  its  millions  of  instances,  or  even  distinctly  in  one 
typical  instance,  with  all  its  phases  of  struggle,  mistake, 
disappointment,  success,  the  growth  of  character,  the  blos 
soming  of  manhood  and  womanhood, — it  would  be  a  more 
moving  spectacle  than  any  that  Shakespeare  has  given. 
Here,  again,  it  is  mostly  the  inarticulate  class,  and  their 
story  is  not  told  to  the  world.  We  especially  fail  to  learn 
it,  because  of  the  wall  of  caste  by  which  the  white  man  shuts 
himself  out  from  the  finest  sights  and  the  most  brotherly 
opportunities.  More  than  farming  or  carpentry,  more  than 
school  or  church,  and  taking  in  the  best  fruits  of  all  these, 
is  family  life,  in  its  fullest  and  best.  That  is  where  the  negro 
is  coming  to  highest  manhood. 

A  necessary  test  of  a  race  is  its  power  to  furnish  its  own 
leaders.  The  negro  race  in  America  is  developing  a  leader 
ship  of  its  own, — small  as  yet,  but  choice  and  growing.  It 
was  part  of  Armstrong's  central  idea  to  create  and  supply 
such  a  leadership.  Hampton  has  gone  steadily  on  in  the 
work,  and  the  sisters  and  the  children  of  Hampton  are 


378  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

multiplying  their  fruits.  It  was  by  an  ideal  fitness  of  things 
that  Armstrong  attracted,  inspired  and  started  as  his  worthy 
successor  one  of  the  negro  race.  At  Tuskegee  the  black 
man  is  doing  for  himself  what  at  Hampton  the  white  man 
is  doing  for  him.  Booker  Washington  is  the  pupil  and  suc 
cessor  of  Armstrong,  but  he  has  his  own  distinct  individ 
uality,  his  own  word  and  work.  His  constant  precept  and 
practice  has  been  that  the  black  man  should  make  himself 
so  serviceable  and  valuable  to  the  community  that  every 
door  will  open  as  fast  as  he  is  fit  to  enter  it.  It  is  the  gospel 
of  wisdom  and  of  peace.  Toward  all  the  opportunities 
denied  to  the  race,  its  attitude  is  one  of  patience  but  of  un 
tiring  persistence.  Its  constant  word  is,  Make  yourself  fit 
for  any  function,  any  place,  and  sooner  or  later  it  will  be 
,  yours.  Against  political  exclusion  Mr.  Washington  on  due 
occasion  speaks  his  calm  word,  but  he  does  not  beat  against 
the  closed  gate ;  he  knows  that  when  the  black  man  shows 
his  full  capacity  for  citizenship  it  cannot  long  be  denied  him. 
The  social  exclusion  he  accepts  with  quiet  self-respect;  let 
time  see  to  that,  let  us  only  do  our  full  work,  learn  our  full 
lesson.  His  teaching  goes  far  beyond  the  schoolroom ;  he 
gathers  in  conference  the  heads  of  families,  the  fathers  and 
mothers ;  he  sets  them  to  study  and  practice  the  curriculum 
of  the  family  and  the  neighborhood.  In  his  intense  prac 
ticality  he  lacks  something  of  the  spiritual  inspiration  which 
Armstrong  had  and  gave.  But  his  teaching  is  in  no  wise 
narrow  or  selfish,  for  always  it  is  animated  by  the  spirit  of 
brotherhood  and  service.  His  personal  story,  Up  from 
Slavery,  is  one  of  the  most  moving  of  human  documents ; 
in  itself  it  is  an  answer  to  all  pessimism.  It  is  a  typical 
story;  even  as  these  sheets  are  written  there  comes  to  hand 
another  like  unto  it,  the  story  of  another  boy,  William  Holtz- 
claw,  who  groped  his  way  up  from  a  negro  cabin,  caught 
the  sacred  fire  at  Tuskegee,  did  battle  with  misfortune  and 


Evolution  379 

adversity,  and  now  in  his  turn  is  carrying  on  the  good  work. 
And  for  every  such  story  that  gets  told  there  are  a  hundred 
that  are  acted. 

The  wider  leadership  of  the  negroes  by  their  own  men 
is  exemplified, — it  is  not  measured  or  exhausted, — by  a 
pregnant  little  volume  of  essays  entitled  The  Negro  Prob 
lem.  Seven  of  its  phases  are  discussed  by  Booker  Wash 
ington,  Professor  DuBois,  Charles  W.  Chestnutt,  Wilfred 
H.  Smith,  H.  T.  Kealing,  Paul  Lawrence  Dunbar,  and  T. 
Thomas  Fortune.  As  a  collection,  these  essays  are  note 
worthy  for  their  cogency  and  clearness,  for  their  earnest 
and  self-respectful  plea  for  full  justice  and  opportunity, 
and  their  calmness  and  candor.  The  race  that  can  speak 
for  itself  in  such  tones  has  an  assured  future, — if  democ 
racy,  evolution,  Christianity,  are  the  ruling  powers. 

This  story  is  concerned  mainly  with  the  slave  and  the 
freedman,  but  it  must  also  touch  on  his  former  master,  now 
his  neighbor  and  fellow-citizen.  The  new  South  is  far  too 
ample  a  theme  for  a  paragraph  or  a  chapter.  But  it  must 
be  said  in  a  word  that  its  main  trait  is  the  substitution,  for  a 
territorial  and  slave-owning  aristocracy,  of  an  industrial 
democracy.  It  is  the  coming  of  the  new  man, — laborious, 
enterprising,  pushing  his  way.  His  development  began 
when  the  whole  community  was  set  to  work  its  way  up  from 
the  impoverishment  left  by  the  war.  It  was  accelerated 
when  new  resources  were  found,  when  coal  and  iron  mines 
were  started,  when  cotton  manufacturing  began  where  the 
cotton  is  grown.  New  types  of  character  and  society  are 
developing,  yet  blending  with  the  remnant  of  the  old. 

Politics,  in  all  its  forms,  plays  a  smaller  part  in  to-day's 
society  than  in  that  of  fifty  years  ago.  Not  only  has  the 
South  never  regained  its  old  ascendency  at  Washington, 
but  it  has  not  stood,  and  does  not  stand,  for  any  distinct  set 
of  ideas  or  principles  in  the  national  life.  It  has  clung 


380  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

closely  together,  under  the  influence  of  old  sentiments  and 
lingering  apprehensions.  In  its  fear  of  a  recurrence  of 
"  negro  domination,"  it  has  lost  touch  with  the  living  ques 
tions  of  to-day  and  to-morrow.  "  The  Solid  South  "  has 
meant  a  secure  contingent  of  electoral  votes  for  the  Demo 
cratic  Presidential  candidate, — whether  he  stood  for  a  gold 
or  a  silver  currency,  for  revenue  reform  or  its  opposite,  for 
radicalism  or  conservatism, — and  a  solid  array  of  members 
in  Senate  and  House  equally  without  pilotage  on  living 
issues.  Until  the  South  breaks  away  from  its  fetish  of  past 
fears  and  prejudices,  it  cannot  rise  to  its  proper  opportuni 
ties  of  statesmanship. 

Yet  better  than  the  old-time  absorption  in  Federal  politics 
and  the  prizes  of  the  Capitol  is  the  more  diversified  life  of 
the  South  to-day.  It  is  being  swept  into  the  current  of  in 
dustrialism — with  its  energies,  its  prizes,  its  perils.  In 
other  directions,  too,  the  new  life  of  the  South  flows  free 
and  strong.  It  is  creating  a  literature, — a  branch  of  Amer 
ican  literature, — incomparably  beyond  any  product  of  its 
earlier  days.  After  what  may  be  called  a  literature  of  states 
manship, — the  work  of  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison, 
Marshall, — the  old  South  was  almost  wholly  barren  of  orig 
inal  scholarship  and  creative  genius.  Now  it  bears  a  har 
vest  so  rich  that  one  cannot  here  begin  to  classify  or  to 
name.  The  war-time  is  bearing  an  aftermath,  of  less  im 
portance  in  its  romances,  but  admirable  and  delightful  in  its 
biographies  and  reminiscences.  Of  these  the  most  notable 
feature,  full  as  they  are  of  vivid  human  interest  and  striking 
personal  characteristics, — is  the  freedom  from  rancor,  the 
generosity  toward  old  foes  which  seems  even  unconscious 
of  any  necessity  to  forgive.  And  in  these  personal  sketches 
there  are  disclosed  certain  broad  yet  distinct  types  of  man 
hood  and  womanhood,  the  special  Southern  contributions  to 
the  composite  American.  In  general  literature,  too,  the 


Evolution  381 

South  is  doing  its  full  share.  In  its  histories,  the  note  of 
provincialism  still  lingers, — inevitably,  and  not  blamably. 
The  Southern  essayist  or  historian  naturally  gravitates  to 
the  past  of  his  own  section, — and  naturally  he  seeks  to  vin 
dicate  his  comrades  or  his  ancestors,  and  to  interpret  the 
past  from  their  standpoint.  But,  compared  with  the  provin 
cialism  of  the  South  of  1860,  he  is  a  cosmopolitan. 

The  new  South  is  doing  perhaps  its  best  work  in  educa 
tion.  Its  leaders  are  both  raising  and  widening  their  stand 
ards, — they  are  reaching  out  towards  modern  and  progres 
sive  ways,  while  they  are  trying  to  amplify  their  systems  so 
as  to  include  the  whole  youthful  population.  Their  intel 
ligence  and  enthusiasm  are  seen  alike  in  the  ancient  univer 
sities  like  that  of  Virginia,  in  the  younger  colleges  such 
as  Roanoke  and  Berea,  and  in  the  leaders  of  the  public 
schools.  Intelligence,  enthusiasm,  devotion, — all  are  needed, 
and  all  with  be  tasked  to  the  utmost.  For  the  education  of 
the  people's  children,  everywhere  the  most  pressing  of  com 
mon  concerns,  and  the  most  perplexing  in  the  transition 
from  old  to  new  ideas  and  methods — bears  with  especial 
weight  and  importunity  upon  the  South.  Its  thinly-spread 
population,  its  still  limited  resources  of  finance,  the  presence 
of  the  two  races  with  their  separate  and  common  needs, — 
all  set  a  gigantic  task  to  the  South,  and  one  that  calls  for 
sympathy  and  aid  from  the  nation  at  large. 


CHAPTER   XXXIX 

EBB   AND   FLOW 

THUS,  in  broadest  outline,  have  the  two  races  at  the  South 
been  faring  on  their  way.  And  now  in  recent  years,  under 
their  separate  development  and  with  their  close  interming 
ling,  have  come  new  complications  and  difficulties.  The 
tendency  has  been  in  some  ways  to  a  wider  separation.  The 
old  relations  between  the  household  servants  and  their  em 
ployers,  often  most  kindly,  and  long  continuing  to  link  the 
two  races  at  numberless  points,  have  passed  away  with  the 
old  generation.  Once  the  inmates  of  mansion  and  cabin 
knew  well  each  other's  ways.  Now  they  are  almost  unac 
quainted.  The  aristocracy  and  its  dependents  had  their 
mutual  relations  of  protection  and  loyalty,  and  gracious  and 
helpful  they  often  were.  Now  comes  democracy, — vigor 
ous,  jostling,  self-assertive, — its  true  social  ideal  of  brotherly 
comradeship  being  yet  far  from  realization.  The  negro  is 
in  a  doubly  hard  position;  under  democratic  competition 
the  weaker  is  thrust  to  the  wall,  yet  he  has  not  even  the 
equality  which  democracy  asserts,  but  is  held  in  the  lower 
place  by  caste.  And  so  there  is  a  new  or  a  newly  apparent 
aggression  upon  the  weaker  race. 

Its  most  obvious  form  is  the  legal  limitation  of  suffrage. 
The  irregular  and  indirect  suppression  of  the  negro  vote 
which  had  prevailed  since  the  close  of  the  Reconstruction 
period,  was  not  thorough  and  sure  enough  to  satisfy  the 
white  politicians.  And  the  lawless  habit  which  it  fostered, 
and  whose  effects  could  by  no  means  be  confined  to  one 
race,  alarmed  the  better  classes.  So  from  two  directions 

382 


Ebb  and  Flow  383 

there  was  a  pressure  toward  some  restriction  of  the  negro 
vote  which  should  be  both  legal  and  effective.  The  move 
ment  became  active  about  the  year  1895,  and  accomplished 
its  end  in  the  States  of  Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  and  Louisiana,  by  constitutional  amendments. 
The  qualifications  thus  prescribed  are  so  various  and  so  vari 
ously  combined  that  a  full  statement  here  is  forbidden  by 
limits  of  space,  but  their  general  characteristics  are  these: 
The  requirement  (in  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  Alabama, 
Louisiana)  of  $300  worth  of  property ;  the  payment  of  a 
poll  tax  (in  Virginia,  North  and  South  Carolina,  Missis 
sippi,  Louisiana)  ;  the  ability  to  read  and  write  (in  North 
Carolina,  Alabama,  Louisiana)  ;  the  ability,  if  not  to  read, 
to  understand  and  explain  any  section  of  the  Constitution 
(in  Virginia,  Mississippi)  ;  regular  employment  in  some 
lawful  occupation,  good  character,  and  an  understanding 
of  the  citizen's  duties  and  obligations  (Alabama).1 

These  restrictions  apply  in  theory  alike  to  both  races. 
But  exemption  from  them  is  allowed,  and  the  suffrage  is 
given,  to  certain  classes:  To  all  who  served  in  the  Civil 
War  (Virginia,  Alabama)  ;  to  all  who  were  entitled  to  vote 
on  January  I,  1867,  also  to  the  sons  (or  descendants)  of 
these  two  classes  (Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Alabama, 
Louisiana). 

In  these  States,  if  these  requirements  are  impartially  en 
forced,  the  effect  is  to  impose  on  the  negroes  a  moderate 
property  or  intelligence  qualification,  or  the  two  combined ; 
and  to  give  practically  universal  suffrage  to  the  whites.  This 

1  In  Maryland,  an  amendment  prescribing  a  series  of  elaborate 
and  vexing  inquiries,  investing  the  registration  officers  with  judi 
cial  powers,  and  avowedly  aiming  at  the  elimination  of  the  negro 
vote,  was  passed  by  the  Legislature,  at  the  instigation  of  Senator 
Gorman  and  against  the  opposition  of  a  Democratic  governor,  and 
decisively  rejected  by  the  popular  vote  in  November,  1905. 


384  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

last  feature,  while  essentially  unfair,  is  a  practical  grievance 
to  the  negroes  so  long  and  only  so  long  as  the  two  races 
stand  as  directly  opposed  forces  in  politics.  Otherwise  it  is 
questionable  whether  the  class  who  are  called  on  to  earn 
the  suffrage  by  intelligence  or  productive  industry  are  not 
really  as  well  off  as  the  class  to  whom  it  is  given  regardless 
of  merit. 

But  in  its  practical  operation  the  system  is  so  elastic — 
and  unquestionably  was  so  designed — that  it  can  be  easily 
applied  for  the  exclusion  of  a  great  part  of  those  who  nom 
inally  are  admitted  to  the  suffrage.  The  "  character  "  and 
"  understanding  "  tests  leave  virtually  full  power  with  the 
registration  officers.  There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that 
in  these  six  States  the  suffrage  is  virtually  denied  to 
negroes  to  an  extent  utterly  beyond  any  fair  construction  of 
the  law.  Mr.  Charles  W.  Chestnutt,  in  his  paper  on  Dis- 
franchisement,  cites  the  case  of  Alabama,  where  the  census 
of  1900  gave  the  negro  males  of  voting  age  as  181,471, 
while  in  1903  less  than  3000  were  registered  as  voters.  And 
even  in  States  like  Georgia,  where  suffrage  is  by  law  uni 
versal,  ways  of  practical  nullification  are  often  applied, — 
as  for  example  by  exclusion  from  the  nominating  primaries, 
in  which  the  results  are  principally  determined. 

Without  the  need  of  legal  forms,  there  is  a  practically 
universal  exclusion  of  all  negroes  from  public  offices,  filled 
by  local  election  or  appointment,  throughout  most  of  the 
South.  Their  appointment  to  Federal  offices  in  that  region, 
though  very  rare,  is  always  made  the  occasion  of  vehement 
protest. 

The  theory  generally  avowed  among  Southern  whites, 
that  the  two  races  must  be  carefully  kept  separate,  is  apt  to 
mean  in  practice  that  the  black  man  must  everywhere  take 
the  lower  place.  At  various  points  that  disposition  en 
counters  the  natural  and  cultivated  sentiments  of  justice, 


Ebb  and  Flow  385 

benevolence,  and  the  common  good,  and  now  one  and  now 
the  other  prevails.  Thus,  there  have  been  efforts  to  re 
strict  the  common  school  education  of  the  blacks.  It  has 
been  proposed,  and  by  prominent  politicians,  to  spend  for 
this  purpose  only  the  amount  raised  by  taxation  of  the  blacks 
themselves.  There  has  appeared  a  disposition  to  confine 
their  education  to  the  rudimentary  branches  and  to  a  nar 
row  type  of  industrialism.  Strong  opposition  has  developed 
to  the  opening  either  by  public  or  private  aid  of  what  is 
known  as  "  liberal  education  "  in  the  college  or  university 
sense.  A  flagrant  instance  of  injustice  is  the  enactment  in 
Kentucky  of  a  law  prohibiting  all  co-education  of  the  races 
— a  law  especially  designed  to  cripple  the  admirable  work 
of  Berea  College. 

But  the  most  serious  obstacle  to  the  black  man,  the  country 
over,  is  the  threatened  narrowing  of  his  industrial  oppor 
tunities.  Here  has  been  his  vantage-ground  at  the  South, 
because  his  productive  power  was  so  great — by  numbers 
and  by  his  inherited  and  traditional  skill, — that  there  was 
no  choice  but  to  employ  him.  At  the  North,  where  he  is  in 
so  small  a  minority  as  to  be  unimportant,  he  has  been 
crowded  into  an  ever  narrowing  circle  of  employments. 
Precisely  the  same  sentiment,  though  not  so  ingeniously 
formulated,  which  makes  the  white  gentleman  refuse  to 
receive  the  black  gentleman  in  his  drawing-room,  inclines 
the  white  carpenter  or  mason  to  refuse  to  work  alongside 
of  his  negro  fellow-laborer.  Yet  against  this  we  have  the 
accomplished  fact,  in  the  South,  of  black  and  white  laborers 
actually  working  together,  harmoniously  and  successfully, 
in  most  industries.  We  see  the  divided  and  wavering  atti 
tude  of  the  trade-unions ;  some  branches  taking  whites  and 
blacks  into  the  same  society;  others  allying  white  societies 
and  black  societies  on  an  equal  footing ;  others  refusing  all 
affiliation;  the  earlier  declarations  of  the  national  leaders 


386  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

for  the  broadest  human  fellowship  challenged  and  often 
giving  way  before  the  imperious  assertions  of  the  caste 
spirit. 

A  race  closely  intermixed  with  another  superior  to  it  in 
numbers,  wealth,  and  intelligence, — a  self-conscious  and 
self-assertive  race, — suffers  at  many  points.  There  are 
abuses  tolerated  by  law;  infractions  and  evasions  of  law; 
semi-slavery  under  the  name  of  peonage;  impositions  by 
the  landlord  and  the  creditor.  There  are  unpunished  out 
rages, — let  one  typical  case  suffice:  a  negro  farmer  and 
produce  dealer,  respected  and  esteemed  by  all,  in  place  of  a 
rude  shanty  puts  up  a  good  building  for  his  wares;  the 
word  goes  round  among  the  roughs,  "  that  nigger  is  get 
ting  too  biggity,"  and  his  store  is  burned, — nobody  surprised 
and  nobody  punished.  Then  there  is  the  chapter  of  lynch- 
ings :  First,  the  gross  crime  of  some  human  brute,  then  a 
sudden  passionate  vengeance  by  the  community ;  the  custom 
spreads;  it  runs  into  hideous  torture  and  public  exultation 
in  it ;  it  extends  to  other  crimes ;  it  knows  no  geographical 
boundaries  but  spreads  like  an  evil  infection  over  the 
country — but  most  of  its  victims  are  of  the  despised 
race. 

Against  the  worst  outrages  the  best  men  of  all  sections 
are  arrayed  in  condemnation  and  resistance.  But  of  its  own 
essential  and  final  social  superiority  the  white  South  brooks 
no  question.  It  expects  its  social  code  to  be  observed  by 
the  nation's  representatives.  It  forgets  that  the  nation's 
representatives  are  cognizant  of  the  general  code  of  the 
civilized  world, — that  breeding,  manners,  and  intelligence, 
constitute  the  gentleman.  So  when  President  Roosevelt  en 
tertains  as  his  guest  the  foremost  man  of  the  negro  race, — 
easily  one  of  the  foremost  half-dozen  men  in  the  country, — 
the  white  South  indulges  in  a  mood  which  to  the  rest  of  the 
world  can  only  appear  as  prolonged  hysteria. 


Ebb  and  Flow  387 

Before  this  whole  wide  range  of  the  unjust  treatment  of 
the  black  race  in  America,  the  observer  is  sometimes  moved 
to  profound  discouragement.  "  Was  it  all  for  nothing?  "  he 
asks,  "  have  all  the  struggle  and  sacrifice,  the  army  of 
heroes  and  martyrs,  brought  us  to  nothing  better  than  this  ?  " 
But  such  discouragement  overlooks  the  background  of  his 
tory,  and  the  vital  undergrowth  of  to-day.  We  see  the  pres 
ent  evils,  but  we  forget  the  worse  evils  that  preceded.  Turn 
back  sixty  years, — read,  not  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  if  you 
distrust  fiction,  but  Fanny  Kemble's  Life  on  a  Georgia 
Plantation,  or  Frederick  Law  Olmsted's  volumes  of  travels. 
Glean  from  the  shelves  of  history  a  few  such  grim  facts,  and 
let  imagination  reconstruct  the  nether  world  of  the  cotton 
and  sugar  plantations,  the  slave  market,  and  the  calaboose; 
the  degradation  of  women;  the  hopeless  lot  to  which 
"  'peared  like  there  warn't  no  to-morrow  ", — and  see  how 
far  our  world  has  moved  into  the  light  since  those  days.  A 
race  is  not  developed  in  an  hour  or  a  decade  or  a 
generation. 

In  the  present  are  facts  of  solid  reassurance,  in  that  the 
best  spirit  of  the  South  is  facing  the  besetting  ills,  is  com 
bating  them,  and  being  thus  aroused  must  eventually  mas 
ter  and  expel  the  evil  spirit.  The  South  has  a  burden  to 
carry  which  the  North  does  not  easily  realize.  There  the 
pegro  is  not  a  remote  problem  of  philanthropy;  he  is  not 
represented  by  a  few  stray  individuals;  it  is  a  great  mass, 
everywhere  present,  in  its  surface  manifestations  often 
futile,  childish,  exasperating;  shading  off  into  sodden  de 
gradation  ;  as  a  whole,  a  century  or  several  centuries  behind 
its  white  neighbors.  To  get  on  with  it  peaceably,  to  rightly 
apportion  with  it  the  opportunities  and  the  burdens  of  the 
community,  to  keep  the  common  movement  directed  up 
ward, — this  demands  measureless  patience,  forbearance, 
wisdom,  and  persistence.  Against  the  more  flagrant  abuses, 


388  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

the  leaders  of  Southern  society  are  making  strong  head. 
Governor  Vardaman  of  Mississippi,  though  a  reactionary 
as  to  negro  education,  has  struck  terror  to  the  hearts  of  the 
lynchers.  The  attitude  of  the  official  class  in  certain 
peonage  cases  is  thus  described  by  Carl  Schurz :  "  These 
crimes  were  disclosed  by  Southern  officers  of  the  law,  the 
indictments  were  found  by  Southern  grand  juries,  verdicts 
of  guilty  were  pronounced  by  Southern  petty  juries,  and  sen 
tence  was  passed  by  a  Southern  judge  in  language  the  dig 
nity  and  moral  feeling  of  which  could  hardly  have  been  more 
elevated."  As  to  disfranchisement  on  grounds  of  race,  rep 
resentative  Southerners  are  anxious  to  demonstrate  that 
the  only  real  disqualification  is  for  ignorance  and  unfitness ; 
and  we  must  look  to  them  to  give  practical  effect  to  their 
professions,  which  can  be  done  if  the  existing  statutes  are 
applied  in  a  spirit  of  justice.  It  is  especially  as  to  education 
that  the  better  sentiment  and  purpose  of  the  South  is  ap 
parent.  The  heavy  cost  of  maintaining  public  schools  for 
the  blacks  has  been  steadily  met.  It  is  estimated  by  the 
United  States  Commission  of  Education  that  for  this  pur 
pose  since  the  beginning  $132,000,000  has  been  spent.  The 
reactionaries  in  education,  like  Governor  Vardaman,  seem 
to  be  overborne  by  the  progressives  like  Governor  Aycock 
of  North  Carolina.  There  is  a  notable  growth  of  the  higher 
order  of  industrial  schools,  mainly  as  yet  by  private  support, 
but  with  a  general  outreaching  of  educational  leaders 
toward  more  practical  and  efficient  training  for  the  common 
body  at  the  common  expense.  In  the  general  discussion  of 
race  matters,  in  periodicals  and  books,  the  old  passionate 
advocacy  is  in  a  degree  giving  place  to  broader  and  saner 
views.  Such  writers  are  coming  to  the  front  as  John  S. 
Wise,  with  his  frank  criticism  of  the  political  Bourbons  and 
his  forward  look;  and  Edgar  Gardner  Murphy,  whose  book 
Present  South  is  full  of  the  modern  spirit.  There 


Ebb  and  Flow  389 

are  others,  especially  among  educators,  not  less  pronounced 
and  serviceable  in  the  forward  movement.  It  is  in  these 
quarters,  and  not  among  politicians  or  party  newspapers, 
that  we  must  look  for  the  brightening  day. 

But  it  is  to  be  recognized  that  a  right  solution  of  the 
South's  difficulties  will  not  be  reached  without  a  sharp  and 
prolonged  antagonism  between  the  good  and  the  evil  ten 
dencies.  Mr.  Schnrz  states  the  case  none  too  strongly: 
"  Here  is  the  crucial  point :  There  will  be  a  movement 
either  in  the  direction  of  reducing  the  negroes  to  a  perma 
nent  condition  of  serfdom — the  condition  of  the  mere  planta 
tion  hand,  '  alongside  of  the  mule,'  practically  without  any 
rights  of  citizenship — or  a  movement  in  the  direction  of 
recognizing  him  as  a  citizen  in  the  true  sense  of  the  term. 
One  or  the  other  will  prevail."  And  he  adds,  "  No  doubt 
the  most  essential  work  will  have  to  be  done  in  and  by  the 
South  itself.  And  it  can  be." 

When  President  Hayes  withdrew  the  Federal  troops  from 
the  South,  it  marked  the  formal  restoration  of  that  local 
self-government  which  is  a  vital  principle  of  the  American 
Union.  Of  slower,  deeper  growth,  has  been  the  spirit  of 
mutual  good-will  and  confidence,  with  the  free  concession 
to  each  member  of  its  individual  life.  Numberless  delicate 
cords  have  been  reuniting  the  severed  sections.  Railways, 
commerce,  literature,  the  tides  of  business  and  pleasure 
travel,  the  pressure  of  common  problems,  the  glory  of  com 
mon  achievements,  the  comradeship  of  the  blue  and  the 
gray  on  Cuban  battlefields,  the  expositions  of  industry,  the 
throb  of  human  feeling  as  the  telegraph  tells  its  daily  story 
of  heroism  or  tragedy — all  have  done  their  part.  It  is  by 
their  nobler  interests  that  the  sections  are  most  closely 
united.  Beyond  the  squabbles  of  politicians  is  the  power  of 
such  conferences  as  those  of  the  Southern  Education  Com 
mission,  where  meet  the  best  brains  and  consciences,  the 


390  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

gifts  of  the  liberal,  the  plans  of  the  wise,  and  the  energy  of 
the  stout-hearted. 

The  education  of  a  slave  into  a  man,  the  harmonizing  of 
two  races,  the  common  achievement  of  a  great  national  life, 
— it  is  a  long  work,  but  it  moves  on. 

"  Say  not,  The  struggle  naught  availeth, 

The  labor  and  the  wounds  are  vain, 
The  enemy  faints  not  nor  faileth, 

And  as  things  have  been  they  remain. 

"For  while  the  tired  waves  vainly  breaking, 

Seem  here  no  painful  inch  to  gain, 
Far  back,  through  creeks  and  inlets  making, 

Comes  silent,  flooding  in,  the  main. 

"And  not  through  eastern  windows  only, 
When  daylight  comes,  comes  in  the  light, 

In  front  the  sun  climbs  slow,  how  slowly, 
But  westward,  look,  the  land  is  bright  1 " 


CHAPTER    XL 

LOOKING  FORWARD 

IT  is  difficult  to  write  history,  but  it  is  impossible  to  write 
prophecy.  We  can  no  more  tell  what  lies  before  us  than 
the  Fathers  of  the  Republic  could  foresee  the  future  a  cen 
tury  ago.  They  little  guessed  that  slavery,  which  seemed 
hastening  to  its  end,  would  take  new  vigor  from  an  increase 
of  its  profits, — that,  stimulated  by  the  material  gain,  a 
propaganda  of  religious  and  political  defense  would  spring 
up, — that  a  passionate  denunciation  and  a  passionate  de 
fense  would  gradually  inflame  the  whole  country, — that 
meanwhile  the  absorption  of  the  mass  of  citizens  in  private 
pursuits  would  blind  them  to  the  evil  and  peril,  and  prevent 
that  disinterested,  comprehensive  statesmanship  which  ought 
to  have  assumed  as  a  common  burden  the  emancipation  of 
the  slaves, — that  the  situation  would  be  exasperated  by 
hostility  of  the  sections  and  complicated  by  clashing  theories 
of  the  national  Union, — that  only  by  the  bitter  and  costly 
way  of  war  would  a  settlement  be  reached, — and  that 
emancipation,  being  wrought  by  force  and  not  by  persua 
sion,  would  leave  the  master  class  "  convinced  against  its 
will,"  and  a  deep  gulf  between  the  races,  whose  spanning 
is  still  an  uncertain  matter, — all  this  was  hidden  from  the 
eyes  of  the  wisest,  a  century  ago.  So  is  hidden  from  our 
eyes  the  outworking  of  the  century  to  come. 

But  the  essential  principles  of  the  situation,  the  true  ideals, 
the  perils, — these  were  seen  of  old.  Jefferson  wrote,  "  I 
tremble  for  my  country  when  I  reflect  that  God  is  a  God  of 
justice."  And  Washington  said,  "  I  can  already  foresee  that 

391 


392  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

nothing  but  the  rooting  out  of  slavery  can  perpetuate  the 
existence  of  our  Union,  by  consolidating  it  in  a  common 
bond  of  principle."  Just  so  clearly  can  we  read  the  basal 
principles  on  which  depends  our  national  safety.  We  look 
forward  to-day,  not  to  predict  what  will  be,  but  to  see  what 
ought  to  be,  and  what  we  purpose  shall  be. 

We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  are  to  face  and  deal 
with  this  matter.  We  are  all  in  it  together.  Secession  has 
failed,  colonization  is  impossible.  Southerner  and  North 
erner,  white  man  and  black  man,  we  must  work  out  our 
common  salvation.  It  is  up  to  us, — it  is  up  to  us  all ! 

The  saving  principle  is  as  simple  as  the  multiplication 
table  or  the  Golden  Rule.  Each  man  must  do  his  best,  each 
must  be  allowed  to  do  his  best,  and  each  must  be  helped  to 
do  his  best.  Opportunity  for  every  one,  according  to  his 
capacity  and  his  merit, — that  is  democracy.  Help  for  the 
weaker,  as  the  strong  is  able  to  give  it, — that  is  Chris 
tianity.  Start  from  this  center,  and  the  way  opens  out 
through  each  special  difficulty.  The  situation  is  less  a  puzzle 
for  the  intellect  than  a  challenge  to  the  will  and  heart. 

First  of  all,  it  is  up  to  the  black  man  himself.  His  free 
dom,  won  at  such  cost,  means  only  opportunity,  and  it  is 
for  him  to  improve  the  opportunity.  As  he  shows  himself 
laborious,  honest,  chaste,  loyal  to  his  family  and  to  the 
community,  so  only  can  he  win  to  his  full  manhood.  The 
decisive  settlement  of  the  whole  matter  is  being  worked  out 
in  cotton  fields  and  cabins,  for  the  most  part  with  an  uncon 
sciousness  of  the  ultimate  issues  that  is  at  once  pathetic  and 
sublime, — by  the  upward  pressure  of  human  need  and  aspi 
ration,  by  family  affection,  by  hunger  for  higher  things. 

On  the  leaders  of  the  negroes  rests  a  great  responsibility. 
Their  ordeal  is  severe,  their  possibilities  are  heroic.  The 
hardship  of  a  rigid  race  severance  acts  cruelly  on  those 
whose  intelligence  and  refinement  fit  them  for  a  companion- 


Looking  Forward  393 

ship  with  the  best  of  the  whites,  which  they  needs  must 
crave,  which  would  be  for  the  good  of  both  races,  but  which 
is  withheld  or  yielded  in  scanty  measure.  Self-abnegation, 
patience,  power  alike  to  wait  and  to  do, — these  are  the 
price  they  are  called  to  pay.  But  the  prize  set  before  them  is 
worth  it  all, — the  deliverance  of  their  people,  and  the  har 
monizing  of  the  long  alienated  races.  They  need  to  beware 
of  jealousies  and  rivalries  of  leadership  such  as  have  made 
shipwreck  of  many  a  good  cause.  There  is  room  and  need 
for  various  contributions.  They  have  a  common  bond  in 
that  ideal  which  is  the  most  precious  possession  of  the 
American  negro.  It  is  the  old  simple  idea  of  goodness,  set 
in  close  relation  to  this  age  of  productive  activity.  It  re 
quires  that  a  man  be  not  only  good  but  good  for  something, 
and  sets  faithful  and  efficient  service  as  the  gateway  to  all 
advance, 

But  for  the  right  adjustment  of  the  working  relations  of 
the  two  races,  the  heavier  responsibility  rests  with  the 
whites,  because  theirs  is  the  greater  power.  They  can  pre 
scribe  what  the  blacks  can  hardly  do  other  than  accept. 

What  we  are  now  facing  is  not  slavery, — an  institution 
that  may  be  abolished  by  statute — but  its  offspring,  Caste— 
a  spirit  pervasive,  subtle,  sophistical,  tyrannic.  It  can  be 
overcome  only  by  a  spirit  more  pervasive,  persistent  and 
powerful — the  spirit  of  brotherhood. 

Puzzling  as  Ihe  situation  is  at  some  points,  its  essential 
elements  are  far  simpler  and  easier  to  deal  with  than  slavery 
presented.  There  is  no  longer  a  vast  property  interest  at 
stake, — on  the  contrary,  material  interest  points  the  same 
way  with  moral  considerations.  There  are  complexities  of 
the  social  structure,  but  nothing  half  so  formidable  as  the 
aristocratic  system  based  on  slavery.  The  gravest  dif 
ficulty  now  is  a  race  prejudice,  deep-rooted  and  stubborn, 
yet  at  bottom  so  irrational  that  civilization  and  Christianity 


394  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

and  human  progress  should  be  steadily  wearing  it  away. 
Let  us  take  heart  of  grace.  If  our  wills  are  true,  it  should 
be  no  great  puzzle  for  our  heads  to  find  the  way  in  this  bus 
iness.  Let  us  test  the  practical  application  of  our  principle 
— namely,  that  each  man  should  do  his  best,  each  should  be 
allowed  to  do  his  best,  and  helped  to  do  his  best — let  us  see 
how  this  should  work  in  industry,  education,  politics,  and 
social  relations. 

First  in  importance  is  the  industrial  situation.  Broadly, 
the  negro  in  this  country  shows  himself  able  and  willing  to 
work.  The  sharp  spur  of  necessity  urges  him,  and  his  in 
herited  habit  carries  him  on.  But  he  needs  a  training  in 
youth  that  shall  fit  him  to  work  more  effectively.  For  that 
matter,  his  white  brother  needs  it,  too.  But  here  is  the  in 
equality  of  their  situations, — whatever  the  white  worker  is 
qualified  to  do  he  is  allowed  to  do,  but  how  is  it  with  the 
black  worker?  Let  the  Northern  reader  of  these  pages  see 
at  his  door  the  palpable  instance  of  a  limitation  more  cruel 
than  can  be  found  at  the  South.  Let  him  note,  as  the 
children  stream  out  from  the  public  school,  the  dark- 
skinned  boy,  playing  good-naturedly  with  his  white  mates, 
at  marbles  or  ball  or  wrestling, — just  as  he  has  been  study 
ing  on  the  same  bench  with  them, — he  is  as  clean,  as  well- 
dressed,  as  well-behaved,  as  they.  Now,  five  years  hence, 
to  what  occupation  can  that  colored  boy  turn?  He  can  be 
a  bootblack,  a  servant,  a  barber,  perhaps  a  teamster.  He 
may  be  a  locomotive  fireman,  but  when  he  is  fit  to  be  an 
engineer,  he  is  turned  back.  Carpentry,  masonry,  painting, 
plumbing,  the  hundred  mechanical  trades, — these,  for  the 
most  part,  are  shut  to  him ;  so  are  clerkships ;  so  are  nine- 
teen-twentieths  of  the  ways  by  which  the  white  boys  he 
plays  and  studies  with  to-day  can  win  competence  and  com 
fort  and  serve  the  community.  It  is  a  wrong  to  whose 
acuteness  we  are  blunted  by  familiarity.  It  can  be  changed 


Looking  Forward  395 

only  as  sentiment  is  changed ;  and  for  that  there  must  be 
white  laboring  men  who  will  bravely  go  ahead  and  break 
the  cruel  rule  by  welcoming  the  black  laborer  to  their  side. 
In  the  South  the  negro  as  yet  enjoys  industrial  freedom, 
in  the  choice  of  an  occupation — or  a  near  approach  to  it — 
because  his  labor  is  so  necessary  that  he  cannot  be  shut 
out.  But  the  walls  are  beginning  to  narrow.  White  immi 
gration  is  coming  in.  The  industrial  training  of  the  old 
plantation  is  no  longer  given,  and  industrial  schools  are  yet 
very  imperfectly  developed.  Some  trades  are  being  lost  to 
the  negroes;  they  have  fewer  carpenters,  masons,  and  the 
like ;  they  find  no  employment  in  cotton  mills,  and  are  en 
gaged  only  in  the  least  skilful  parts  of  iron  manufacture. 
The  trade  unions,  gradually  spreading  through  the  South, 
begin  to  draw  back  from  their  early -professions  of  the  equal 
ity  and  brotherhood  of  all  toilers.  An  instance  comes  to 
hand  as  these  pages  are  being  written — one  instance  out  of  a 
plenty.  "  The  convention  at  Detroit,  Mich.,  of  the  amalga 
mated  association  of  steel  and  iron  workers  has  postponed 
for  a  year  consideration  of  a  proposition  to  organize  the 
colored  iron,  steel  and  tin  workers  of  the  South.  The 
white  employes  of  the  Southern  mills  led  the  opposition. 
They  objected  to  seeing  the  negroes  placed  on  an  equality, 
and  it  was  further  argued  that  once  a  colored  man  ob 
tained  a  standing  in  the  association,  there  was  nothing  to 
prevent  his  coming  North.  President  Shaffer  urged  that 
all  men  who  are  competent  workers  should  be  members  of 
the  association."  Now  for  next  year  it  is  up  to  President 
Shaffer,  and  those  of  like  mind !  On  this  question,  of  com 
radeship  between  black  and  white  laborers,  there  is  a  call 
to  the  leaders  of  labor  organizations  to  lead  right.  These 
chiefs  of  labor  hold  a  place  of  the  highest  possibilities  and 
obligations.  In  their  hands  largely  lies  the  advance  or  re 
trogression  of  the  industrial  community — and  that  means 


396  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

our  entire  community.  It  is  one  of  the  most  hopeful  signs 
of  the  times  that  stress  of  necessity  is  bringing  to  labor's 
front  rank  men  of  a  higher  type,  men  often  of  large  brain, 
high  purpose,  and  strong  will.  Brains,  purpose,  will, — all 
are  needed  by  these  unofficial  statesmen.  They  must  look 
many  ways  at  once,  but  this  way  they  ought  not  to  fail  to 
look, — to  the  industrial  harmonizing  and  equality  of  the  two 
races. 

Exclude  the  colored  men  from  the  unions,  and  what 
can  be  expected  but  that  they  serve  as  a  vast  reserve  for 
the  employers  when  strikes  arise  between  the  capitalists  and 
the  employes?  We  read  now  and  then  of  the  introduction 
of  negroes  as  "  strike-breakers,"  and  the  bitterness  it  causes. 
But  will  not  this  be  repeated  on  the  largest  scale  if  the  mil 
lions  of  negroes  are  to  be  systematically  excluded  from  the 
unions?  There  may  be  difficulties  in  including  them, — dif 
ficulties  partly  running  back  into  other  injustices,  such  as 
the  practice  of  different  wage-rates  for  whites  and  blacks. 
But  it  would  seem  to  be  the  larger  wisdom,  in  point  of 
strategy,  to  enroll  the  two  great  wings  of  the  host  of  labor 
into  a  united  army.  And  apart  from  strategy,  that  char 
acter  of  the  labor  movement  which  most  deeply  appeals  to 
the  conscience  and  judgment  of  mankind, — the  uplift  of  the 
great  multitude  to  better  and  happier  things, — that  should 
rise  above  the  barrier  of  race-prejudice  as  above  all  other 
conventional  and  foolish  divisions.  Will  the  labor  leaders 
see  and  seize  their  opportunity  at  once  to  strengthen  and 
to  ennoble  their  cause? 

The  education  of  the  negroes  presents  a  hundred  special 
questions,  but  its  basal  principles  are  not  difficult  to  dis 
cern.  Here,  fortunately,  we  have  in  the  main  an  admirable 
loyalty  and  good-will  on  the  part  of  the  white  South.  It  is 
proved  by  deeds  more  than  by  words.  The  sum  spent  by 
the  Southern  States  in  the  last  thirty  years  for  the  schooling 


Looking  Forward  397 

of  the  blacks — it  is  reckoned  at  $132,000,000,  most  of  it,  of 
course,  from  white  taxpayers — is  the  best  evidence  of  its 
disposition.  The  occasional  complaints  and  protests  seem 
no  more  significant  than  the  occasional  grumbling  at  the 
North  against  its  best-rooted  institutions, — everywhere  and 
always  the  children  of  light  must  keep  up  some  warfare 
with  the  Philistines.  The  main  difficulties  at  the  South  are 
two;  limited  means  for  so  great  a  task, — three  or  four 
months  of  schooling  burdens  Mississippi  more  than  ten 
months  burdens  Massachusetts ;  and  the  grave  puzzle  as  to 
what  kind  of  elementary  education  best  fits  the  negro  child. 

This  puzzle  applies  almost  equally  to  the  white  child ; 
throughout  the  country  and  the  world  a  reconstruction  of 
education  is  struggling  forward,  through  great  uncertain 
ties  but  under  strong  pressure  of  necessity.  It  is  felt  that 
the  old-time  book-education,  and  even  its  modern  revision 
— all  as  yet  come  vastly  short  of  rightly  fitting  the  child  for 
manhood  or  womanhood.  We  have  advanced,  but  we 
have  still  far  to  go.  To  rightly  educate  "  the  hand,  head 
and  heart,"  (the  watchword  of  Tuskegee) — to  develop 
strong,  symmetrical  character  and  intelligence,  the  sound 
mind  in  the  sound  body, — to  train  the  bread-winner  and 
the  citizen,  as  well  as  to  open  the  gates  of  intellectual 
freedom  and  spiritual  power, — this  is  what  we  have  not 
quite  learned.  Socrates  and  More  and  Rousseau  and  Pes- 
talozzi  and  Froebel  and  Armstrong  have  done  much,  but 
they  have  left  abundant  room  for  their  successors.  The  mil 
lionaire's  child,  as  well  as  the  field-hand's,  must  wait  awhile 
yet.  So  it  is  small  wonder  if  the  Southern  public  school  is 
still  a  challenge  to  the  best  wits. 

The  combined  industrial  and  educational  need  of  the 
South  is  excellently  summed  up  by  a  sympathetic  observer, 
Ernest  Hamlin  Abbott: 

"  The  chief  industrial  problem  of  the  South  is,  therefore, 


398  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

that  of  transforming  an  indolent  peasantry  accustomed  to 
dependence  into  an  active,  independent  people.  This  in 
volves  an  educational  problem.  Industrial  education  is 
something  very  different  from  training  a  few  hundred  girls 
to  cook  and  sew  for  others ;  it  is  something,  even,  very 
different  from  supplying  a  few  hundreds  of  young  men  with 
a  trade.  Industrial  training  is  this  larger  undertaking, 
namely,  to  train  hundreds  of  thousands  of  young  people  in 
habits  of  industry,  in  alertness  of  mind,  and  in  strength  of 
will  that  shall  enable  them  to  turn  to  the  nearest  opportunity 
for  gaining  the  self-respect  that  comes  with  being  of  use 
to  the  community." 

One  thing  is  clear.  More  than  the  system  is  the  teacher. 
Now  and  always  the  first  requisite  must  be  instructors  of 
devotion,  intelligence,  sympathy,  inspiration.  To  train  such, 
and  train  them  in  multitudes,  there  must  be  institutions, 
ample  in  intellectual  resource  and  high  in  their  standards. 
There  can  be  no  fit  common  schools  for  the  blacks  unless 
there  are  worthy  normal  schools  and  colleges.  Atlanta  and 
its  class  are  necessary  as  well  as  Tuskegee  and  its  class, — 
and  Atlanta  reinforces  Tuskegee  with  a  large  proportion  of 
its  teachers.  On  broader  grounds,  too,  the  need  of  the 
higher  education  for  the  black  man  is  imperative.  It  can 
hardly  be  better  stated  than  in  the  words  of  Professor 
DuBois,  in  his  book  of  irresistible  appeal,  The  Souls  of 
Black  Folk: 

''  That  the  present  social  separation  and  acute  race-sensi 
tiveness  must  eventually  yield  to  the  influence  of  culture,  as 
the  South  grows  civilized,  is  clear.  But  such  transforma 
tion  calls  for  singular  wisdom  and  patience.  If,  while  the 
healing  of  this  vast  sore  is  progressing,  the  races  are  to  live 
for  many  years  side  by  side,  united  in  economic  effort,  obey 
ing  a  common  government,  sensitive  to  mutual  thought  and 
feeling,  yet  subtly  and  silently  separate  in  many  matters  of 


Looking  Forward  399 

deeper  human  intimacy, — if  this  unusual  and  dangerous  de 
velopment  is  to  progress  amid  peace  and  order,  mutual 
respect  and  growing  intelligence,  it  will  call  for  social 
surgery,  at  once  the  delicatest  and  nicest  in  modern  history. 
It  will  demand  broad-minded,  upright  men,  both  white  and 
black,  and  in  its  final  accomplishment  American  civilization 
will  triumph.  So  far  as  white  men  are  concerned,  this  fact 
is  to-day  being  recognized  in  the  South,  and  a  happy  re 
naissance  of  university  education  seems  imminent.  But  the 
very  voices  that  cry  hail  to  this  good  work  are,  strange  to 
relate,  largely  silent  or  antagonistic  to  the  higher  education 
of  the  negro." 

It  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  growth  of  a  tree  the 
upper  boughs  must  have  space  and  air  and  sunlight,  as  much 
as  the  roots  must  have  earth  and  water, — and  so  with  a  race. 
There  is  need  of  scholars  and  idealists,  as  well  as  toilers; 
and  for  these  there  should  be  their  natural  atmosphere. 
Again  let  us  hear  the  moving  words  of  Professor  DuBois : 
"  I  sit  with  Shakespeare,  and  he  does  not  wince.  Across 
the  color  line  I  move  arm  in  arm  with  Balzac  and  Dumas, 
where  smiling  men  and  welcoming  women  glide  in  gilded 
halls.  From  out  the  caves  of  evening  that  swing  between 
the  strong-limbed  earth  and  the  tracery  of  the  stars,  I  sum 
mon  Aristotle  and  Aurelius  and  what  soul  I  will,  and  they 
come  all  graciously  with  no  scorn  nor  condescension.  So, 
wed  with  Truth,  I  dwell  above  the  veil.  Is  this  the  life  you 
grudge  us,  O  knightly  America?  Is  this  the  life  you  long 
to  change  into  the  dull  red  hideousness  of  Georgia? 
Are  you  so  afraid  lest,  peering  from  this  high  Pisgah, 
between  Philistine  and  Amalekite,  we  sight  the  Promised 
Land?" 

Yet  it  is  not  for  himself  or  the  cultured  few  that  he 
makes  the  strongest  plea : 

"  Human  education  is  not  simply  a  matter  of  schools,  it 


400  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

is  much  more  a  matter  of  family  and  group  life,  the  train 
ing  of  one's  home,  of  one's  daily  companions,  of  one's 
social  class.  Now  the  black  boy  of  the  South  moves  in  a 
black  world — a  world  with  its  own  leaders,  its  own  thoughts, 
its  own  ideals.  His  teachers  here  are  the  group  leaders  of 
the  negro  people — the  physicians,  clergymen,  the  trained 
fathers  and  mothers,  the  influential  and  forceful  men  about 
him  of  all  kinds — here  it  is,  if  anywhere,  that  the  culture 
of  the  surrounding  world  trickles  through,  and  is  handed 
on  by  the  graduates  of  the  higher  schools.  Can  such  cul 
ture  training  of  group  leaders  be  neglected?  Can  we  af 
ford  to  ignore  it?  Do  you  think  that  if  the  leaders  of 
thought  among  negroes  are  not  trained  and  educated  them 
selves,  they  will  have  no  leaders?  On  the  contrary,  a  hun 
dred  half-trained  demagogues  will  still  hold  the  places  they 
so  largely  occupy  now,  and  hundreds  of  vociferous  busy- 
bodies  will  multiply.  We  have  no  choice;  either  we  must 
help  furnish  this  race  from  within  its  own  ranks  with 
thoughtful  men,  of  trained  leadership,  or  suffer  the  conse 
quences  of  a  headless  misguided  rabble." 

Turning  now  to  the  political  status  of  the  negro,  it  may 
be  said  that  the  most  pressing  need  will  be  substantially 
met  if  the  South  will  carry  out  in  good  faith  the  provisions 
of  her  statute-books.  By  some  of  those  statute-books, 
suffrage  is  still  equal  and  universal.  In  others,  the  negro 
in  required  to  own  $300  worth  of  property,  or  to  be  able  to 
read  and  write,  or  to  understand  the  Constitution  when  read 
to  him.  That  the  white  man  is  practicaly  exempt  from 
these  tests,  by  the  "  soldier  "  or  "  grandfather  "  clause,  what 
ever  be  its  theoretic  injustice  or  unwisdom,  would  be  no 
great  practical  grievance  to  the  negro  if  only  he  were  fairly 
allowed  to  cast  his  own  vote  when  he  can  meet  the  statutory 
tests.  At  present,  throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  South, 
the  practical  attitude  of  the  election  officials,  and  the  social 


Looking  Forward  401 

sentiment  enforced  in  subtle,  effectual  ways,  debars  the 
negro  vote  almost  as  thoroughly  as  if  it  were  disallowed  by 
law.  That  this  should  be  so  may  be  satisfactory  enough  for 
those  to  whom  the  matter  ends  with  "  This  is  a  white  man's 
country,"  or  "  Damn  the  niggers  anyhow."  But  will  the 
intelligent,  large-minded  Southerners, — the  men  of  light  and 
leading — always  allow  the  theory  of  their  own  statute- 
books  to  be  nullified?  Will  they  f^ever  maintain  a 
suffrage-test  of  race  rather  than  of  property  and  intelli 
gence  ? 

It  is  said,  no  doubt  truly  enough,  that  a  large  part  of  the 
negroes  are  indifferent  to  the  suffrage,  and  do  not  care  to 
vote.  But  is  this  a  desirable  state  of  things?  Taking  the 
class  to  whom  the  law  awards  the  suffrage, — the  men  of 
some  modest  property  qualification  and  intelligence, — is  it 
well  for  the  community  that  they  should  be  indifferent  to 
questions  of  taxation,  of  law-making,  of  courts  and  schools 
and  roads  and  bridges?  Is  it  not  in  every  sense  desirable 
that  they  should  be  encouraged  to  take  an  intelligent  and 
active  interest  in  such  matters?  John  Graham  Brooks  tells 
of  his  recent  observations  in  Gloucester  county,  Virginia, 
where  whites  and  blacks  have  been  co-operating  for  good 
local  government,  and  the  curse  of  liquor-selling  has  been 
restrained  by  the  votes  of  a  black  majority.  Surely  we 
should  all  like  to  see  that  precedent  widely  followed.  That 
is  a  very  crude  idea  of  politics  which  sees  in  it  only  a 
scramble  for  public  offices.  That  is  an  obsolete  idea  which 
construes  Southern  politics  as  a  struggle  for  power  between 
whites  and  blacks.  Politics,  in  a  large  sense,  is  the  com 
mon  housekeeping  of  the  community.  It  is  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  broadest  and  highest  common  interests.  The 
importance  to  the  Southern  negro  of  the  political  function 
was  greatly  overrated  when  he  emerged  from  chattelhood. 
But  is  there  any  wiser  course  now  than  to  educate  and  train 


402  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

and  encourage  him  to  a  living  membership  in  the  body 
politic  ? 

In  this  connection  we  naturally  recur  to  the  relation  of 
the  national  government  to  the  negro  problem.  In  gen 
eral,  the  let-alone  policy  of  the  last  twenty-eight  years  is 
likely  to  continue,  and  there  is  every  reason  why  it  should. 
The  termination  of  Federal  interference  in  1877  was  not  due 
to  criminal  indifP'.ence  or  lassitude  on  the  part  of  the 
North,  or  to  political  accident.  It  was  essentially  the 
gravitation  of  the  nation  to  its  normal  position,  after  the 
shock  of  war  and  the  adjustment  of  the  vital  changes 
involved  in  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Those  changes  rec 
ognized  in  the  national  Constitution,  and  the  new  order  set 
on  its  feet,  it  was  natural,  inevitable,  and  right,  that  the 
States  should  resume  the  control  of  their  local  affairs.  The 
division  of  governmental  functions  between  State  and  nation 
was  one  of  the  most  fortunate  circumstances  of  our  birth- 
period;  it  was  the  ripening  of  our  historical  antecedents, 
felicitously  grasped  and  molded  by  a  group  of  great  men. 
It  rests  on  the  fitness  of  each  local  community  to  handle 
its  own  affairs,  while  only  the  most  general  and  fundamental 
interests  are  intrusted  to  the  central  authority.  When  the 
Southern  States  were  left  to  themselves,  they  did  some 
unwise  and  unjust  things, — and  there  had  been  something 
of  unwisdom  and  injustice  in  the  time  of  Federal  super 
vision — but  on  the  whole  it  was  the  re-establishment  of  the 
normal  order.  The  policy  which  naturally  followed  on  the 
part  of  the  general  government  was  the  avoidance  of  special 
legislation,  especially  of  the  restrictive  kind. 

But  within  its  own  sphere,  the  national  government  should 
follow  those  principles  which  are  in  the  best  sense  American. 
Thus  the  executive,  in  its  appointments  to  office,  ought  to 
recognize  an  equality  of  race,  like  that  which  the  Constitu 
tion  affirm  as  to  civil  rights  and  the  suffrage.  It  is  of  vital 


Looking  Forward  403 

moment  that  the  American  nation, — whatever  local  com 
munities  may  do, — should  not  bar  competent  men  from 
office  because  of  race.  Here  as  elsewhere, — the  tools  to 
him  who  can  use  them,  the  career  open  to  the  fit  talent. 
This  should  hold  good  wherever  the  national  executive 
acts,  South  as  well  as  North.  The  principle  should  be 
applied  with  reasonable  regard  to  the  sentiments  of  the 
local  community, — reasonable  but  not  servile  regard.  In 
a  city  by  character  and  tradition  a  stronghold  of  the  white 
race,  it  seems  unwise  to  give  a  principal  office  to  a  black 
man.  But  in  a  community  where  the  black  element  is  strong 
in  numbers  and  in  character,  and  where  the  dark  race  offers 
fit  incumbents  for  office,  there  should  be  a  fair  number  of 
such  appointments.  If  it  is  said  "  This  is  offensive  to  the 
Southern  people,"  the  answer  is,  Who  are  the  Southern  peo 
ple  ?  Not  the  white  people  only,  but  the  black  people  also. 

As  to  legislation,  a  measure  was  recently  proposed  and 
somewhat  discussed,  which  has  perhaps  passed  like  other 
bubbles,  but  the  proposal  of  which  caused  natural  agitation 
and  apprehension  at  the  South.  This  was  a  scheme  for  ap 
plying  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the  reduction  of  Con 
gressional  representation  in  the  South  in  proportion  to  the 
negroes  excluded  from  suffrage  by  the  new  State  Consti 
tutions.  Some  such  reduction  may  be  permissible  under 
the  amendments, — for  the  later  Fifteenth  Amendment  only 
forbids  the  States  to  limit  suffrage  by  "  color,  race,  or 
previous  condition  of  servitude."  Limitation  by  a  property  or 
educational  test  is  not  forbidden;  but  under  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment  it  might  be  made  the  ground  for  reducing  a 
State's  representation  in  Congress.  But  when  it  has  been 
said  that  the  proposed  measure  of  reduction  is  permissible 
under  the  Constitution,  there  is  nothing  more  in  its  favor. 
From  the  standpoint  of  its  proposers,  it  would  be  only  half- 
effective,  for  it  could  reach  only  those  debarred  by  actual 


404  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

want  of  property  or  education ;  the  larger  exclusion  by  the 
unfair  administration  of  election  officers  is  an  individual 
matter,  beyond  the  cognizance  of  statute-books.  But  the 
weighty  objection  is  that  it  would  recognize,  accept  and 
confirm  that  very  exclusion  of  the  negro  vote  against  which 
it  professes  to  be  aimed.  It  would  only  enforce  a  penalty, 
from  which  the  gain  would  accrue  solely  to  the  Republican 
majority  in  Congress  and  the  electoral  college.  The  Repub 
lican  party,  it  is  safe  to  say,  has  too  much  virtue  and  intelli 
gence  in  its  rank  and  file  to  accept  such  a  gain  at  such  a 
cost.  For  the  cost  would  be  a  bitter  intensifying  of  race 
and  sectional  hostility.  The  Southern  negro,  his  disfran- 
chisement  accepted  and  ratified  by  the  North,  would  be 
freshly  odious  to  his  white  neighbors  on  whom  he  had 
unconsciously  brought  this  humiliation.  The  fast  closing 
breach  between  the  North  and  South  would  have  a  sharp 
and  heavy  wedge  of  division  driven  in.  The  peaceful  for 
ward  movement  of  the  nation — for  forward  it  is,  spite  of 
some  lurches  and  staggers — would  be  set  back  by  a  return 
to  the  old  methods  of  sectional  conflict.  But  indeed  the 
proposal  hardly  merits  so  much  space  as  has  here  been 
given  it.  It  is  a  scheme  of  politicians  and  not  of  the  people, 
unhopeful  even  as  a  political  scheme,  unsupported  by  the 
sober  thought  of  the  North,  utterly  unlikely  to  be  realized 
or  seriously  attempted. 

There  is  another  kind  of  legislative  action  which  may 
well  be  seriously  considered.  Would  it  not  be  wise,  just, 
and  statesmanlike,  for  the  nation  to  give  financial  aid  to- 
the  tremendous  work  of  public  education  with  which  the 
South  is  struggling?  The  Blair  bill  for  this  purpose, — 
in  a  word,  an  appropriation  of  $i(X>,ooo,ooo,  running 
through  ten  years,  on  the  basis  of  illiteracy, — came  very 
near  success  in  Congress.  It  was  defeated  by  an  ardent 
championship  in  the  North,  of  local  independence  and  self- 


Looking  Forward  405 

reliance.  It  is  questionable  whether  that  championship  was 
not  misdirected.  Here  are  States  burdening  themselves 
beyond  their  Northern  neighbors,  to  give  schooling  for 
only  a  third  of  a  year,  and  necessarily  sometimes  of  inferior 
quality.  The  deficiency,  compared  with  the  standards  of 
wealthier  States,  results  in  a  widespread  ignorance  detri 
mental  not  only  to  the  community  but  to  the  nation.  The 
interests  at  stake  are  common  to  us  all.  The  backlying 
cause  of  the  trouble, — slavery  and  its  accompaniments — 
was  in  a  sense  our  common  responsibility;  we  all  ought  to 
have  united  to  get  rid  of  it  peaceably,  and  the  North  ought 
to  have  paid  its  share.  For  the  dereliction  the  South  has 
paid  a  terrible  price.  The  North,  too,  suffered  wofully,  yet 
in  far  less  measure.  Would  it  not  be  the  part  of  patriotism 
and  statesmanship — of  wisdom  and  good-will — that  all 
should  now  take  some  share  in  lifting  the  load  which  weighs 
heaviest  on  the  South,  but  hurts  us  all? 

We  are  spending  a  hundred  millions  a  year  for  a  navy. 
Would  not  some  of  that  money  be  put  to  better  use  in  train 
ing  our  own  citizens,  who  will  otherwise  go  untaught? 
Someone  has  said :  "  The  cost  of  one  battleship  would 
endow  the  higher  education  of  the  Southern  negro  for  half 
a  century  to  come." 

It  is  not  the  negro  only,  it  is  his  white  neighbor  also,  for 
whom  we  are  to  provide.  So  to  plan  the  provision  that  the 
money  be  honestly  and  wisely  spent;  to  do  it  with  just  con 
sideration  of  local  feeling,  yet  on  firm  lines  of  American 
democracy — this  would  take  study  and  sagacity.  But  could 
study  and  sagacity  be  better  applied  than  to  make  this  idea 
practical?  The  project  seems  prompted  by  wise  self-interest 
and  by  justice.  The  South  is  carrying  more  than  its  share 
of  national  expense,  and  without  complaint.  Our  tariff 
system  presses  far  heavier  on  the  agricultural  South  than 
on  the  manufacturing  North.  Of  our  payment  of  pensions, 


406  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

— running  up  to  $130,000,000  a  year, — the  South  bears  its 
proportion,  though  it  is  paid  to  men  for  fighting  against 
her,  and  the  South  makes  no  remonstrance.  Is  it  not  simple 
justice,  is  it  not  a  matter  of  national  conscience  and  honor, 
that  the  whole  nation  should  help  her  in  educating  the  future 
citizens  of  the  republic? 

From  this  national  aspect,  we  return  to  the  more  personal 
phases  of  our  theme.  Shall  we  touch  on  that  subject  whose 
very  name  seems  to  prohibit  discussion? — what  is  called 
"  social  equality,"  or  as  others  would  prefer  "  social  inti 
macy."  Either  phrase  seems  to  evoke  a  phantom  before 
which  consideration  and  composure  flee.  But  we  may,  as 
Epictetus  suggests,  say,  "  Appearances,  wait  for  me  a  little ; 
let  me  see  who  you  are  and  what  you  are  about,  and  put 
you  to  the  test."  Social  equality — in  what  sense  does  it 
exist  among  white  men  ?  People  find  their  associates  accord 
ing  to  fitness  and  congeniality.  Clean  people  prefer  the 
society  of  clean  people,  and  the  dirty  must  go  by  themselves 
or  change  their  habits.  Men  and  women  of  refinement  and 
good  manners  welcome  the  company  of  the  refined  and  well- 
mannered.  They  do  so  no  less  if  these  pleasing  traits  are 
found  in  a  Japanese,  a  Chinese,  or,  a  Hindu.  This  is  the 
custom  of  the  civilized  world.  At  the  North,  as  already  in 
Christendom  at  large,  the  same  usage  is  coming  to  extend 
to  the  African.  A  gentleman,  a  lady,  by  breeding  and  edu 
cation  and  behavior,  is  admitted  to  the  society  of  other 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  whether  in  the  business  office,  the 
committee-room,  or  the  home.  When  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic  in  Massachusetts  this  year  chose  their  district 
commander,  the  almost  unanimous  choice  fell  on  a  soldier, 
a  lawyer,  and  a  gentleman,  of  African  blood.  When  last 
fall  the  students  of  the  Amherst  agricultural  college  elected 
the  captain  of  their  football  team,  they  took  as  their  leader 
a  young  man  of  the  dark  race.  A  few  years  since  a  class 


Looking  Forward  407 

in  Harvard  awarded  their  highest  honor,  the  class  orator- 
ship,  to  Mr.  Bruce  of  Mississippi,  of  negro  blood.  When 
a  Springfield  lawyer,  meeting  in  Philadelphia  an  old  class 
mate  in  the  law  school,  accepted  his  invitation  to  dinner  at 
his  boarding-house,  and  there  found  himself  among  a  score 
of  ladies  and  gentlemen,  all  dark-skinned,  elegant  in  dress 
and  manners,  agreeable  in  conversation,  and  meeting  their 
guest  with  entire  ease  and  composure, — he  did  not  feel  that 
the  meeting  had  injured  either  him  or  them,  or  shaken  the 
foundations  of  the  social  order.  Such  is  the  growing,  if 
not  the  general,  practice  in  the  Northern  States ;  such  is 
the  well-established  custom  of  Christendom.  If  the  white 
people  of  the  Southern  States,  for  reasons  peculiar  to  their 
section,  follow  a  different  rule,  they  have  still  no  occa 
sion  for  wonder  and  dismay  at  the  practice  in  other  sections, 
or  for  indignation  when  the  highest  official  in  the  American 
capital  follows  the  general  usage  of  the  civilized  world. 

The  reasons  given  by  the  Southern  whites  for  their  own 
course  in  the  matter  call  no  less  for  respectful  consider 
ation.  They  say :  "  We  are  encompassed  and  intermingled 
with  a  people  of  negro  and  mixed  blood.  If  we  associate 
with  them  familiarly,  the  natural  result  will  be  intermar 
riage.  There  is  no  drawing  the  line  short  of  that.  Meet  at 
the  dining-table  and  in  the  drawing-room, — visit,  study, 
play,  associate  familiarly  and  intimately, — and  the  young 
people  of  the  two  races,  in  many  instances,  will  pass 
through  acquaintance  and  friendship  to  love  and  marriage. 
Then  springs  a  mixed  and  degenerate  race;  then  the  white 
race,  with  its  proud  tradition,  its  high  ideals,  its  grand 
power,  shades  off  into  an  inferior,  mongrel  breed.  Our 
inheritance,  our  civilization,  our  honor,  bid  us  shut  out 
and  forbid  that  degeneracy  at  the  very  threshold." 

Let  it  be  assumed  that  for  the  present  the  white  South 
resolutely  maintains  its  attitude  of  social  separation.  But 


408  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

let  its  defenders  consider  some  of  the  consequences  it 
involves,  and  make  account  with  them  as  best  they  may. 
Does  not  this  social  code  strongly  confirm,  and  indeed  carry 
as  a  necessary  implication,  that  industrial  separation  which 
must  work  injuriously  not  only  to  the  negro  but  to  the  com 
munity?  If  the  white  gentleman  will  not  associate  with  a 
black  gentleman  in  a  committee  on  school  or  public  affairs, 
if  he  will  not  admit  him  to  his  pew  or  his  drawing-room,  is 
it  not  to  be  expected  that  the  white  carpenter  or  mill-hand 
will  refuse  to  work  side  by  side  with  the  black?  What  that 
means  where  the  black  man  is  in  a  small  minority,  we  see 
here  at  the  North, — it  shuts  him  out.  Where  he  is  in 
stronger  force,  as  at  the  South,  the  refusal  of  industrial 
fellowship  means  growing  bitterness,  and  the  complication 
and  aggravation  of  labor  difficulties.  It  all  goes  along 
together, — the  social  separation  and  the  industrial. 

Further,  this  means  that  each  race  is  to  be  ignorant  and 
aloof  from  the  other,  on  its  best  side.  The  best  side  of  every 
civilized  people  is  seen  in  its  homes.  The  white  and  the 
black  homes  of  the  South  are  strangers  to  each  other.  Edgar 
Gardner  Murphy  in  his  admirable  book,  The  Present  South, 
while  he  does  not  for  a  moment  question  the  necessity  of 
the  social  barrier,  laments  that  ignorance  of  each  other's 
best  which  it  involves.  He  dwells  hopefully  on  that  develop 
ment  of  the  family  life  which  marks  the  negro's  best  advance, 
—but  what,  he  asks,  can  the  white  people  really  see  or  know 
of  it?  Surely  it  is  a  very  grave  matter  to  keep  two  inter 
mingled  peoples  thus  mutually  ignorant  of  each  other's  best. 

If  it  be  asked,  "  What  course  can  reasonably  be  considered 
as  a  possible  alternative  to  the  jealous  safeguarding  of  our 
race  integrity  ?  "  the  answer  might  suggest  itself :  "  Simply 
deal  with  every  man  according  to  his  fitness,  his  merits,  and 
his  needs,  regardless  of  the  color  of  his  skin.  Decide 
to-day's  questions  on  the  broad  principles  of  justice  and 


Looking  Forward  409 

humanity.  Leave  the  ultimate  relation  of  the  races  to  those 
sovereign  powers  working  through  Nature  and  mankind, 
which  we  dimly  understand,  but  with  which  we  best  co 
operate  by  doing  the  right  deed  here  and  now." 

Some  things  we  say — and  think,  too, — when  we  are  in 
debate  with  our  opponents,  and  some  other  things  we  think 
when  we  quietly  commune  with  ourselves.  Any  social 
ordinance  or  usage  finds  its  final  test  when  we  bring  it  into 
the  companionship  of  our  highest  ideal.  We  may  here  bor 
row  an  apologue: 

"  The  •ther  night  I  fell  asleep  when  soothed  by  vivid 
memories  of  a  visit  to  Charleston  soon  after  the  war. 
The  place  was  then  new  to  me,  and  the  warmth  of  old  friends 
from  whom  I  had  long  been  parted  and  the  cordial  hospi 
tality  of  those  now  first  met  seemed  to  blend  with  the 
delicious  atmosphere  which  soothed  and  charmed  my  senses. 
The  memory  prompted  a  dream,  in  which  I  sat  again  at 
that  hospitable  board,  where  my  host  had  summoned  a  com 
pany  to  meet  a  special  guest.  The  stranger  delighted  us  all, 
partly  by  his  suggestive  comments,  but  still  more  by  some 
subtle  sympathy  which  moved  us  all  to  free  and  even  inti 
mate  speech.  Gradually  the  company  enlarged;  presently 
entered  a  man,  and  my  host  whispered  to  me,  '  That  fellow 
tried  to  ruin  me,  but  I  can't  shut  him  out  now  ' — and  place 
was  made.  Then  came  in  one  with  marked  Jewish  features, 
and  the  company  drew  their  chairs  together  and  made  room 
for  him.  More  intimate  and  sympathetic  grew  the  talk, 
— strangely  we  all  felt  ourselves  in  a  region  of  thought  and 
feeling  above  our  wont,  and  brought  close  together  in  it. 
It  dawned  on  me  '  this  Presence  among  us  is  the  same  that 
once  walked  in  Jerusalem  and  Galilee/  At  that  moment 
there  appeared  at  the  door  a  newcomer  of  dark  hue.  A 
frost  fell  on  the  company;  they  seemed  to  stiffen  and  close 
their  ranks ;  the  host's  face  turned  in  trouble  and  uncertainty 


4io  The  Negro  and  the  Nation 

from  the  newcomer  to  the  guest  of  honor.  The  Guest  arose 
and  spoke  to  the  stranger, — '  Take  my  place ! '  he  said." 

Each  of  us  dreams  his  own  dream,  and  thinks  his  own 
thought.  Differ  as  we  may,  let  us  unite  wherever  we  can 
in  purpose  and  action.  The  perfect  social  ideal  will  be 
slow  in  realization,  but  it  is  to-day's  straightforward  step 
along  some  plain  path  that  is  bringing  us  nearer  to  it.  The 
black  workman  who  every  day  does  his  best  work ;  the  white 
workman  who  welcomes  him  to  his  side;  the  trade-union 
that  opens  its  doors  alike  to  both  colors ;  the  teacher  spend 
ing  heart  and  brain  for  her  pupils;  the  statesman  planning 
justice  and  opportunity  for  all;  the  sheriff  setting  his  life 
between  his  prisoner  and  the  mob;  the  dark-skinned  guest 
cheerfully  accepting  a  lower  place  than  his  due  at  life's  feast ; 
the  white-skinned  host  saying,  Friend,  come  up  higher, — 
it  is  these  who  are  solving  the  race  problem. 

Slowly  but  surely  we  are  coming  together.  We  confront 
our  difficulties  as  a  people,  however  we  may  differ  among 
ourselves,  with  a  oneness  of  spirit  which  is  a  help  and  pledge 
of  final  victory.  We  are  one  by  our  most  sacred  •memories, 
by  our  dearest  possessions,  and  by  our  most  solemn  tasks. 
Our  discords  are  on  the  lower  plane ;  when  the  rich,  full 
voices  speak,  in  whatever  latitude  and  longitude,  they  chord 
with  one  another.  When  Uncle  Remus  tells  Miss  Sally's 
little  boy  about  Brer  Rabbit  and  Brer  Fox,  the  children  from 
the  Gulf  to  the  Lakes  gather  about  his  knees.  Tom  Sawyer 
and  Huck  Finn  are  claimed  as  comrades  by  all  the  boys 
between  the  Penobscot  and  the  Rio  Grande.  Lanier's  verse 
rests  on  the  shelf  with  Longfellow's.  The  seer  of  Concord 
gives  inspiration  in  Europe  and  India  and  Japan.  Frances 
Willard  stands  for  the  womanhood  of  the  continent.  When 
Fitzhugh  Lee  died,  it  was  not  Virginia  only  but  America 
that  mourned  a  son.  When  Mary  Livermore  passed  away, 
we  all  did  honor  to  her  heroic  spirit.  When  Dunbar  sings 


Looking  Forward  411 

his  songs,  or  DuBois  speaks  in  the  tones  of  scholar  and  poet, 
we  all  listen.  The  great  emancipators  of  the  successive 
generations, — Woolman,  Lundy,  Channing,  Mrs.  Stowe, 
Lincoln,  Armstrong,  Booker  Washington — do  we  not  all 
claim  a  share  in  them-?  Just  as  all  Englishmen  feel  them 
selves  heirs  alike  of  the  Puritan  Hampden  and  the  Royalist 
Falkland,  so  we  Americans  all  pay  our  love  and  reverence 
to  the  heroes  of  our  war, — Grant  and  Lee,  Jackson  and 
Sheridan,  Johnston  and  Thomas,  and  all  their  peers. 

And  we  are  one  by  the  common  tasks  that  confront  us. 
This  problem  of  the  races, — it  is  a  challenge  to  do  our  best. 
"  Impossible  ?  What  are  we  put  into  the  world  for,  but 
to  do  the  impossible  in  the  strength  of  God  ?  "  The  rich  man 
and  the  poor  man,  the  employer  and  the  laborer,  must  find 
some  common  ground  of  justice  and  harmony.  The  nation 
must  be  steered  away  from  commercial  greed  and  military 
glory,  toward  international  arbitration,  toward  peace, 
toward  universal  brotherhood.  Knowledge  and  faith  are 
to  join  hands,  and  the  human  spirit  is  to  reach  nobler 
heights.  These  are  the  tasks  which  we  Americans  are  to 
meet  and  master — together. 

The  hope  of  Lincoln  is  finding  its  late  fulfillment :  "  The 
mystic  chords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battle-field 
and  patriot  grave  " — Northern  and  Southern  graves  alike — 
"  to  every  living  heart  and  hearth-stone  all  over  this  broad 
land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again 
touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our 
nature."  The  pathetic  melody  of  the  negro  spirituals,  the 
brave  and  rollicking  strains  of  "  Dixie,"  and  the  triumphant 
harmony  of  "  The  Star  Spangled  Banner,"  blend  and  inter 
weave  in  the  Symphony  of  America. 


INDEX 


ABBOTT,  Ernest  Hamlin,  on  in 
dustrial  problem  of  South,  397. 

Abolition,  see  Emancipation. 

Abolitionists  (Cf.  Anti-slavery 
men),  in  England,  38;  opinions 
of  North  and  South  on,  54;  in- 
clusiveness  of  term,  54  ff; 
characterized,  56  ff;  conserva 
tives  ally  themselves  with  Re 
publicans,  130;  extremists  not 
opposed  to  secession,  212;  favor 
disunion,  217. 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  joins 
"  Free  Soil "  party,  81 ;  nomi 
nated  for  Vice-President,  82; 
proposes  compromise  on  slav 
ery,  229;  candidate  for  Presi 
dential  nomination,  328. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  character 
istics,  28 ;  relations  with  Clay, 
29 ;  in  Congress,  72 ;  believes 
abol.  of  slavery  as  war  measure 
legal,  253. 

Adams,  Nehemiah   (Dr.),  141. 

Adams,  Samuel,  8. 

Alabama,  admitted  as  slave  State, 
23;  forbids  importation  of 
slaves,  later  repeals,  36; 
secedes,  225 ;  emancipation  in, 
260;  gives  qualified  assent  to 
thirteenth  amendment,  262;  pro 
visional  govt.  formed,  275 ;  re 
constructed,  310;  negro  voters 
in  majority  in,  311;  Federal  in 
terference  in  election  (1872), 
323;  Democrats  regain  control 
in,  324 ;  legal  limitation  of  suf 
frage  in,  383,  384. 

Alabama      Claims,     the,      settled, 

325. 

Alcorn,  J.  M.,  first  Republican 
governor  of  Mississippi,  336. 

Alcott,  Amos  Bronson,  charac 
terizes  John  Brown,  160;  fu 
tile  views  of  on  war,  242. 

Allen,  Charles,  refuses  to  sup 
port  Whig  party,  81. 


Amendments,  consti  t  u  t  i  o  n  a  1 , 
Thirteenth,  262;  ratified,  268, 
276;  declared  adopted,  276; 
Fourteenth  formulated  and  dis 
cussed,  297  ff;  prob.  reason  for 
mistake  of  exclusion  art.  in,  301 ; 
disqualifications  under  removed 
by  Congress,  302;  restoration 
offered  to  South  upon  adoption 
of,  303;  rejected  by  South,  304, 
310;  Grant  against  exclusion 
clauses  in,  310;  scheme  to  ap 
ply  to  reduction  of  Southern 
representation,  403  ff;  Fifteenth 
proposed,  314;  adopted,  315, 

403- 

American  Missionary  Asso'n, 
labors  of  for  freedmen,  362. 

American  Party.  (See  KNOW- 
NOTHING  PARTY),  115,  151; 
death  of,  153. 

"  American   system,"  31. 

Ames,  Adelbert,  governor  of  Mis 
sissippi,  336;  calls  for  Federal 
troops;  impeached;  driven  from 
state,  340. 

Ames,  Charles  G.,  characterizes 
Stroud's  Slave  Laws,  no. 

Amherst  Agricultural  College, 
chooses  negro  football  captain, 
406. 

Anderson,  Major,  at  Ft.  Moul- 
trie,  223;  Buchanan  refuses  aid 
to;  withdraws  to  Ft.  Sumter; 
supported,  224;  surrenders,  235. 

Andersonville,  terrors  of,  245. 

Andrew,  John  A.  (Gov.),  de 
nounces  slavery,  154;  on  John 
Brown,  165;  strongly  opposes 
secession,  230 ;  course  as  war 
governor,  279;  suggests  princi 
ples  of  reconstruction,  280;  en 
deavors  to  interest  Northern 
capital  in  South,  319. 

"Anti-Nebraska"  party,   115. 

Anti-secessionists,  in  North  and 
South,  212. 


413 


414 


Index 


Anti-slavery  men  (Cf.  ABO 
LITIONIST),  distinguished  from 
abolitionists,  55 ;  disheartened 
by  "  Free  Soil  "  nomination,  82 ; 
outbreaks  against  in  South,  169, 
186. 

Anti-slavery  movement  grows,  35 
ff,  37,  5i>  52,  7i>  91 ;  women  and 
literary  men  in,  56;  public 
leaders  keep  aloof  from,  57;  pe 
titions,  71 ;  documents  excluded 
from  Southern  mails,  72,  73; 
made  political  issue,  74;  strong 
growth  of  in  North,  113  ff; 
assumed  by  Republican  party, 
127;  tabooed  at  South,  129. 

Anti-slavery  society,  American, 
founded,  44;  purposes  of,  45; 
dissolution  of,  367. 

Arkansas,  admitted  as  slave  state, 
23 ;  postpones  action  on  seces 
sion,  227;  secedes,  235;  eman 
cipation  in,  260;  provisional 
govt.  estab.  in,  269,  275;  recon 
structed,  310;  relative  number 
of  negro  voters  in,  311 ;  becomes 
Democratic,  323;  Grant  recom 
mends  state  govt.  be  declared 
illegal,  344;  bill  defeated,  345. 

Armstrong,  Samuel  Chapman 
(Gen.),  birth  and  early  life  of, 
356;  in  Union  Army;  begins 
labors  for  f reedmen  in  Virginia ; 
characterization  of,  357 ;  special 
fitness  for  work,  359 ;  religious 
views,  360;  forms  ideals  of 
negro  education,  360  ff;  founds 
Hampton  Institute,  362  ff;  per 
sonality,  364  ff;  labors  of  for 
school,  365  ff;  death  of;  sum 
mary  of  life  work;  personal  ap 
pearance,  366;  sayings  of,  367; 
Booker  Washington,  pupil  and 
successor  to,  378. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  poem  on  his 
father,  369. 

Atchison,  Senator,  of  Missouri, 
117. 

Atlanta  University,  358,  398. 

Atlantic  Monthly,  begun,   144 

Aycock,  Governor,  of  N.  C,  388. 

BACON,  Leonard,  36. 
Baltimore,         Maryland,       Mass, 
troops  attacked  at,  237. 


Banks,  Nathaniel  P.,  joins  "  Free 
Soil "  party,  81 ;  speaker  of 
House,  115;  in  Republican 
party,  127;  refuses  nomination 
of  "  Know-nothing "  seceders, 
supports  Fremont,  129;  gover 
nor  of  Mass.,  193;  in  House, 
284. 

Baptists,  champion  cause  of  free 
dom,  22. 

"  Barnburners,"  the,  82. 

Barnwell,  Senator,  advocates  se 
cession,  89. 

Bates,  Edward,  candidate  for 
Presidential  nomination  ( 1860) , 
191 ;  attitude  of  on  emancipation 
proclamation,  257. 

Beauregard,  Gen.,  leads  attack  on 
Fort  Sumter,  235. 

Beecher,  Edward,  36. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  character 
ization  of,  141  ff;  active  in 
political  discussion,  142;  criti 
cises  Lincoln  in  Independent, 
254;  labors  in  behalf  of  Union, 
277;  outlines  plan  of  reconstruc 
tion,  277  ff;  views  on  suffrage, 
308. 

Bell,  John,  nominated  for  Pres 
ident,  189;  popular  vote  for 
(1860),  194;  214. 

Bennett,  James  Gordon,  141. 

Berea  College,  beginnings  of,  73 ; 
discriminated  against  by  Ken 
tucky  educational  law,  385. 

Bernard,  John,  meets  Washing 
ton,  i  ff. 

"Biglow  Papers,"  Lowell  attacks 
slavery  and  war  in,  77 ;  144 ;  254. 

Birney,  James  G.,  36;  incidents  in 
life  of,  58  ff;  political  ideas  of, 
59;  nominated  for  President, 
74;  views  of  on  slavery  ques 
tion,  74;  again  nominated,  75. 

Black,  Jeremiah  S.,  Attorney- 
General,  222;  Secretary  of 
State,  244;  defends  Johnson, 
312. 

"Black  Codes"  of  1865-6,  281  ff, 
372. 

Elaine,  James  G.,  in  House,  284; 
proposes  amend,  to  Stevens's 
reconstruction  bill,  306;  on  de 
bate  of  bill,  307;  on  negro  suf 
frage,  310;  leader  in  House, 


Index 


415 


characterized,  331 ;  ^  speaks 
against  Davis,  reputation  dis 
credited,  Presidential  candidate, 
346. 

Blair,  Francis  P.  (Gen.),  nom 
inated  for  Vice-Presidency;  de 
feated,  314. 

Blair,  Senator,  of  N.  H.,  bill  of 
for  aid  to  local  education  on 
basis  of  existing  illiteracy,  372, 
404. 

"Border  Ruffians,"  the,   116,   118. 

Border  States,  severity  of  war 
greatest  in,  242;  Lincoln's 
scheme  for  compensated  eman 
cipation  in,  252;  slave  owners 
in  alienated  by  emancipation 
proclamation,  261. 

Boston  Courier,  denounces  Re 
publican  party  in  1860  campaign, 

194- 

Bourne,  George  (Rev.),  denounces 
slavery,  37. 

Boutwell,  George  S.,  governor  of 
Mass.,  92;  in  House,  284; 
House  prosecutor  of  Johnson, 
311. 

Bowles,  Samuel,  124;  "Life  and 
Times  of,"  124  note;  gives 
opinion  of  Johnson  imbroglio, 
296. 

Bradley,  Joseph  (Justice),  on 
Hayes-Tilden  commission,  349. 

Breckinridge,  John  C,  nominated 
for  President,  188;  scheme  for 
electing,  189;  popular  vote  for 
(1860),  194;  declines  to  repudi 
ate  secession,  194. 

Bristow,  Benjamin  H.,  Presiden 
tial  candidate,  Sec'y  of  Treas 
ury,  346,  347. 

Brooks,  John  Graham,  observa 
tions  of  on  Virginia  politics,  401. 

Brooks,  Preston  S.,  assaults  Stun 
ner,  122;  re-elected  and  hon 
ored,  effect  on  North,  123. 

Brown,  B.  Gratz,  leads  independ 
ent  movement  in  Mo.,  327; 
aspirant  for  Presidential  nomi 
nation,  328. 

Brown,  John,  sketch  of,  119  ff; 
leads  massacre  in  Kansas,  120; 
schemes  for  extinction  of 
slavery,  159  ff;  in  Springfield, 
Mass.,  159,  162;  aided  by  lead 


ing  anti-slavery  men,  160;  pen 
pictures  of  by  Alcott  and  Emer 
son,  160;  characterization  of, 
161  ff;  makes  raid  on  Harper's 
Ferry,  162;  captured,  163; 
hanged,  164;  honored  as  martyr, 
164  ff ;  eulogized  by  Emerson, 
165,  167 ;  characterization  of  his 
acts  and  schemes,  166  ff. 

Bruce,  B.  K.,  U.  S.  Senator,  336. 

Bruce,  R.  C,  of  Miss.,  awarded 
class  oratorship  at  Harvard, 
407. 

Bryant,  William  Cullen,  editor  of 
N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  327. 

Buchanan,  James,  72 ;  Democratic 
Presidential  candidate,  charac 
terized,  128;  with  Mason  and 
Soule  issues  Ostend  manifesto, 
128;  administration  of  (1857- 
61),  147;  sends  Gov.  Walker  to 
Kansas,  150;  supports  Lecomp- 
ton  constitution,  151 ;  announces 
position  on  secession,  222;  re 
fuses  aid  to  Ft.  Moultrie,  224; 
cabinet,  224. 

Burgess,  J.  W.  (Prof.),  shows  ef 
fects  of  John  Brown's  raid,  170; 
comments  on  laws  governing 
negroes  after  war,  291. 

Burns,  Anthony,  fugitive  slave, 
91. 

Butler,  Senator,  from  S.  C.,  Sum- 
ner  attacks  in  Congressional 
speech,  122. 

Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  joins  se 
ceding  Democratic  convention 
(1860),  188 ;  candidate  for  gov 
ernor  of  Mass.,  192;  declares 
fugitive  slaves  "  contraband  of 
war,"  248 ;  House  prosecutor  of 
Johnson,  311;  in  Congress,  char 
acterized,  331 ;  labors  for  "  force 
bill"  (1875),  345- 

Butler,  Fanny  Kemble.  See  KEM- 
BLE,  FANNY. 

CALHOUN,  John  C.,  Vice-Presi 
dent,  relations  with  Jackson,  30; 
defends  right  of  nullification,  32 ; 
prophesies  concerning  relations 
between  North  and  South,  34; 
becomes  leader  of  South,  34,  44 ; 
characterization  of,  47  ff;  social 
theories  of,  50;  in  Senate,  op- 


416 


Index 


poses  anti-slavery  petitions, 
claims  State  control  of  mails, 
72;  in  Tyler's  cabinet,  leader  in 
Texas  annexation,  75 ;  returns 
to  Senate,  76;  politically  isolat 
ed,  79;  opposes  war  with  Eng., 
80 ;  claims  of  for  nationionaliza- 
tion  of  slavery,  80;  last  speech 
of,  86 ;  his  opinion  of  struggle 
bet.  North  and  South,  87. 

California,  taken  from  Mexico, 
79;  admission  as  free  State  ad 
vocated,  88,  90;  swift  settle 
ment  of;  applies  for  admission 
with  slavery  excluded,  South 
opposes,  84;  rejects  Fifteenth 
amendment,  315. 

Cameron,  Simon,  candidate  for 
Presidential  nomination ;  sup 
ports  Lincoln,  190. 

Carolinas,  the  (see  also  NORTH, 
SOUTH),  slavery  foundation  of 
aristocracy  in,  6 ;  number  of 
slaves  in  in  1790,  9. 

Carpenter,  Frank,  Lincoln's  con 
versation  with,  256. 

"Carpet-baggers,"  the,  318,  336, 
338. 

Casey,  F.  F.,  in  government  of 
Louisiana,  341. 

Cass,  Lewis,  nominated  for  Pres 
ident,  81 ;  resigns  from  cabinet, 
224. 

Chamberlain,  Daniel  H.,  governor 
of  So.  Carolina,  332,  348. 

Chandler,  Zachariah,  270 ;  sketch 
of,  283 ;  as  radical  leader,  285 ; 
party  leader,  331 ;  chairman 
Republican  national  committee ; 
disputes  Tilden's  election,  348. 

Channing,  William  Ellery,  plan  of 
emancipation,  39;  sketch  of, 
attitude  toward  anti-slavery 
movement,  59  ff;  treatise  on 
Slavery,  62. 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  in  "  Free  Soil " 
convention,  82;  in  Senate,  83; 
against  extension  of  slavery, 
90 ;  in  Lincoln's  cabinet,  249 ; 
attitude  of  on  emancipation 
proclamation,  257;  becomes 
chief  justice,  274;  candidate  for 
Presidential  nomination,  Lin 
coln's  opinion  of,  services  of  in 
supreme  court,  313. 


Chestnutt,  Charles  W.,  379; 
shows  discrimination  against 
negro  suffrage,  384. 

Child,  Lydia  Maria,  56 ;  opinion 
of  Channing,  63. 

Church,  the,  early,  accepts  slavery, 
works  toward  abolition,  4; 
casuistical  defense  of  slavery 
by,  5;  in  America,  justifies 
slavery,  50 ;  split  over  slavery, 
53;  united  in  South  in  defense 
of  slavery  in  North  divided, 
141 ;  labors  of  in  North  in  be 
half  of  Union,  277. 

Civil  rights  bill  (1866)  passed, 
296;  vetoed  by  Johnson,  be 
comes  law,  297;  of  1875, 

345- 

Civil  war,  the,  causes,  of,  211  ff; 
237  ff;  views  on  in  North  and 
South,  237 ;  moral  results  of, 
240,  244,  247 ;  emancipation 
measures  discussed  and  adopted 
during,  248  ff;  disappointment 
over  protraction  of,  254;  negroes 
in,  261,  263;  courage  of  both 
North  and  South  in,  262 ;  suffer 
ing  in,  265;  ended,  270. 

"Civil  War  and  the  Constitution, 
The,"  170. 

Clay,  Cassius  M.,  opposes  slavery, 
73 ;  in  founding  of  Berea  Col 
lege,  73;  170. 

Clay,  Henry,  votes  for  slavery  in 
Arkansas,  23;  favors  Missouri 
compromise,  aspires  to  Presi 
dency,  dislikes  but  supports 
slavery,  26 ;  relations  of  with  J. 
Q.  Adams,  29;  advocates  pro 
tective  tariff,  31;  proposed  tariff 
compromise,  33;  Whigs  nomi 
nate  for  President,  75 ;  defeated, 
76;  opposed  to  annexation  of 
Mexico,  79;  disappointed  .of 
Presidential  nomination,  Si ; 
in  Senate  (1849-50),  frames 
compromise  measures  of  i8~6, 
85 ;  opposes  extension  of  slavery, 
denies  right  of  secession,  last 
speech  of,  86;  denounces  threats 
of  secession,  89. 

Clayton,  Powell,  in  Grant  fac 
tion,  344. 

Cobb,   Howell,   138. 

Coles,  Edward  (Gov.),  35. 


Index 


417 


Colfax,  Schuyler,  in  House,  284; 
Vice-President,  314. 

Colonization,  Jefferson's  schemes 
for,  18;  Pennsylvania  society, 
22;  society  attacked  by  New 
Eng.  anti-slavery  society,  44. 

Compromise  of  1820,  see  MIS 
SOURI — of  1850,  85  ;  adopted,  90 ; 
causes  dissatisfaction  in  North 
and  South,  91. 

Confederacy,  the  Southern  (see 
also  SOUTH,  the,  etc.).  Seces 
sionists  propose  to  form,  215; 
convention  to  organize,  225 ; 
organized,  constitution  of,  226 ; 
election  of  officers  of,  226,  227; 
disregards  peace  overtures  from 
Republicans,  229;  courage  dis 
played  in,  262;  Lee  the  chief 
hero  of,  263. 

Conkling,  Roscoe,  in  House,  284; 
party  leader,  331 ;  favors  "  force 
bill,"  345;  Presidential  candi 
date,  346. 

Connecticut,  passes  emancipation 
law,  21. 

"Conscience  Whigs,"  82. 

Constitution  (See  Convention  of 
1787),  proposed  convention  to 
revise,  229.  Amendments  to, 
see  AMENDMENTS. 

"  Constitutional      Union "      party, 

153,  189- 

Convention  of  1787,  personnel, 
work,  and  difficulties  of,  10  ff; 
results  of,  14  ff. 

Corwin,  Thomas,  opposes  Mex 
ican  war,  77. 

Cotton  gin,  invention  of  stimulates 
cotton  growing,  23. 

Credit  Mobilier,  344. 

Crittenden,  John  J.,  Senator,  151, 
214. 

Crittenden,  compromise,  pro 
posed,  refused  by  Republicans, 
228. 

Cuba,  emancipation  in,  108 ;  an 
nexation  of  demanded  in  Ostend 
manifesto,  128. 

Curtis,  Benj.  R.,  defends  Pres 
ident  Johnson,  312. 

Curtis,  George  William,  editor 
Harper's  Weekly,  330;  leads 
reform  element  in  Republican 
convention  of  1876,  346. 


Curtis,  Justice,  dissents  from 
Dred  Scott  decision,  148. 

dishing,  Caleb,  joins  seceding 
Democratic  convention,  188 ; 
supports  Breckinridge  De 
mocracy;  bitter  words  of  on 
Mass,  election,  193. 

DABNEY,  Thomas,  sketch  of,  100  ff ; 
experiences  of  after  war,  337, 
339,  355- 

Davis,  David,  on  Hayes-Tilden 
commission;  in  Senate,  349. 

Davis,  Henry  Winter,  favors 
radical  reconstruction,  270. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  in  Senate,  86,  89 ; 
sketch  of  life  and  principles  of, 
132  ff ;  active  in  politics,  in 
Mexican  war,  in  Senate,  Sec'y 
of  War,  leader  in  secession,  134 ; 
hostility  toward,  135;  final 
estimate  of,  136;  presents  ulti 
matum  of  South  in  Senate 
(1859),  184;  residence  of  at 
North,  193 ;  defends  secession, 
215 ;  opposes  Immediate  seces 
sion  (1860),  221;  with  others 
withdraws  from  Congress  to  or 
ganize  Confederacy,  225 ;  elected 
President  of  Confederacy,  226; 
North's  hatred  of,  301 ;  im 
prisoned  by  Pres.  Johnson,  329; 
attacked  by  Blaine,  346. 

Davis,  Rebecca  Harding  (Mrs.), 
describes  terrors  of  Civil  war  in 
border  states,  242. 

Dawes,  Henry  L.,  in  House,  284, 

331- 

Dayton,  William  L.,  Vice-Pres 
idential  candidate  (1856),  129. 

Declaration  of  Independence, 
clause  in  regarding  wrongs  of 
slave  trade  suppressed,  9. 

DeForest,  J.  W.,  209. 

Delaware,  votes  against  exten 
sion  of  slave  trade,  13;  rejects 
Thirteenth  amendment,  262, 
276;  rejects  Fifteenth  amend 
ment,  315. 

Democratic  party  (see  ^  Dem 
ocrats),  power  of  South  in,  185; 
extreme  South  breaks  up,  187; 
Alex.  H.  Stephens  explains 
move,  189;  geographical  lines 
of  in  campaign  of  1860,  192. 


4i8 


Index 


Democratic  sentiment,  growth  of, 
21,  29. 

Democrats,  opposed  to  strong 
central  gov't,  21 ;  favor  annex 
ing  Texas,  75;  nominate  Cass 
for  President,  81 ;  combine  with 
Free  Soilers,  92 ;  nominate 
Pierce  for  President,  desert  Free 
Soilers,  93;  vote  for  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill,  114;  in  Republi 
can  party,  127;  platform  (1856), 
campaign,  Buchanan  candidate 
of,  128;  uphold  Ostend  man 
ifesto,  129 ;  divided  over  Le- 
compton  constitution,  151 ;  con 
vention  of  1860,  185  ff ;  delegates 
from  S.  C.  and  Gulf  States 
leave,  187;  adjourns,  188;  regu 
lar  convention  at  re-meeting 
nominates  Douglas  and  Johnson, 
seceders  nominate  Breckinridge 
and  Lane,  188;  inharmonious  in 
North,  253 ;  gain  in  1862,  261 ; 
nominate  McClellan  for  Pres 
idency,  defeated,  265 ;  in  Con 
gress  of  1865-6,  284;  hold  con 
vention  of  1868,  repudiate 
reconstruction  acts,  favor  re 
pudiation,  nominate  Seymour, 
313;  regain  control  in  many 
Southern  States,  323;  join  In 
dependent  Republicans,  328;  in 
dorse  Greeley's  nomination,  In 
dependent  Democrats  nominate 
O'Conor,  329 ;  organize  resist 
ance  to  Republicans  in  South 
and  begin  intimidation,  339  ff; 
in  Congress  of  1875-6,  346; 
nominate  Tilden  for  Presi 
dent,  347;  claim  election, 
348  ff. 

Denison,  John,  Dr.,  characterizes 
Gen.  Samuel  Armstrong,  357. 

Devens,  Charles,  Attorney-Gen 
eral  under  Hayes,  353. 

Dickinson,  Edward,  helps  organize 
Republican  party,  114. 

Dickinson,  John,  opinion  of  slave 
trade,  12. 

"  Disfranchisement,"  paper  on,  by 
Charles  W.  Chestnutt,  384. 

District  of  Columbia,  slavery  abol 
ished  in,  251. 

Dix,  John  A.  (Gen.),  in  Buchan 
an's  cabinet,  224. 


Dorsey,  Stephen  W.,  in  Grant 
faction,  344. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  sketch  of, 
112;  introduces  "Kansas-Ne 
braska  "  bill  to  aid  his  Pres. 
candidature,  112  ff;  doctrine  of 
"  popular  sovereignty,"  150 ;  sup 
ports  Republicans  on  Lecompton 
bill,  151 ;  returns  to  Democrats 
and  becomes  Senator,  153;  fa 
mous  debates  of  with  Lincoln, 
180;  elected  U.  S.  Senator,  181 ; 
struggle  of,  with  extreme  South 
on  Democratic  platform  (1860), 
185 ;  great  power  of  in  con 
vention  ;  principles  of ;  follow 
ers  defy  Southern  Democracy, 
186;  nominated  for  President, 
188;  denounces  secession;  pop. 
vote  for,  194;  assails  Lincoln's 
position,  proposes  plans  to  con 
ciliate  South,  233;  supports 
Lincoln,  235. 

Douglass,  Frederick,  96. 

"  Dred,"  anti-slavery  novel,  123  ff. 

Dred  Scott  decision,  147  ff. 

DuBois,  Prof.,  5;  379;  on  need  of 
higher  education  for  negroes, 
398,  399- 

Dunbar,   Paul  Laurence,  379- 

Duncan,  James,  38. 

Durell,  E.  H.  (Judge),  in  Louisi 
ana  election  struggle,  341. 

EDUCATION,  of  negroes,  37;  urged 
by  Beecher,279;nat'l,  of  negroes 
neglected,  325,  326;  higher,  for 
negroes,  358,  377  ff,  398  ff; 
Blair  bill  for  local  aid  to,  on 
basis  of  existing  illiteracy,  372, 
404;  of  negroes  undertaken  by 
Southern  whites,  373;  standard 
of  in  South  being  raised,  381 ; 
efforts  to  restrict  for  negroes, 
unjust  Kentucky  law,  385;  esti 
mate  of  amt.  paid  out  for  negro 
education  to  date,  388;  improved 
industrial  for  negroes,  388;  of 
negro  presents  great  difficulty, 
396-7;  amount  spent  by  South 
for  edu.  of  negro  in  past  30 
years,  397 ;  problems  of  in 
South,  397  ft" ;  need  of  higher  for 
negroes,  398-9 ;  gov't  aid  to  in 
South  advocated,  404. 


Index 


419 


Eggleston,  General,  Republican 
leader  in  Miss.,  336. 

Eliot,  Thomas  D.,  helps  organize 
Republican  party,  114. 

Emancipation  Proclamation,  Lin 
coln  presents  to  cabinet,  decides 
to  delay  promulgation  of,  257; 
reintroduces,  258;  discussed  and 
approved  by  cabinet,  issued 
(1862),  259;  goes  into  effect,  im 
mediate  results  of,  260  ff. 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  in  anti- 
slavery  movement,  56 ;  in  litera 
ture,  94 ;  influence  of,  143 ;  pen 
picture  of  John  Brown  by,  160; 
243. 

"  End  of  an  Era,  The,"  169. 

English  bill,  the,  151. 

Evarts,  William  M.,  in  Republi 
can  convention  (1860),  191,  192; 
defends  President  Johnson,  312; 
Secy,  of  State  under  Hayes,  353. 

Everett,  Edward,  nominated  for 
Presidency,  189. 


FEDERALIST  PARTY,  principles  of, 
20. 

Fee,  John  G.,  and  Berea  College, 
73,  170. 

Fessenden,  William  P.,  in  Senate, 
114;  in  Republican  party,  127; 
heads  reconstruction  com 
mittee,  281 ;  in  U.  S.  Senate, 
283 ;  sketch  of,  284,  285 ;  opposes 
President  Johnson's  plan  of  re 
construction,  286;  votes  to  ac 
quit  Pres.  Johnson,  312;  death 
of,  331- 

Fillmore,  Millard,  becomes  Presi 
dent,  character  of,  90 ;  candidate 
for  Presidential  nomination,  92; 
nominated  (1856)  by  "Know- 
nothings,"  129. 

Fish,  Hamilton,  in  Senate,  114;  in 
settlement  of  Alabama  claims, 

325- 

Fisk  University,  358. 

Florida,  secedes,  225;  emancipa 
tion  in,  260;  provisional  gov't 
of,  275 ;  reconstructed,  310 ;  rel. 
number  of  negro  voters  in,  311 ; 
Presidential  vote  of  contested 
(1876),  348  ff. 

"  Flower  de  Hundred,"  100. 


Floyd,  John  B.,  Secy,  of  War,  re 
signs,  224. 

Foot,   Solomon,  in  Senate,   114. 

Force  bill,  of  1833,  33 ; — proposed, 
of  1875,  defeated  in  Senate, 
345- 

Fort  Moultrie,  commanded  by 
Anderson,  223 ;  Buchanan  re 
fuses  to  aid,  224;  abandoned  by 
Anderson,  224 ;  occupied  by  So. 
Carolinians,  224. 

Fort  Sumter,  Anderson  removes 
to,  224;  debate  over,  233;  Lin 
coln  sends  aid  to,  234;  Confed 
erates  attack  and  take,  235. 

Fortune,  T.  Thomas,  379. 

Fowler,  Senator,  votes  to  acquit 
Pres.  Johnson,  312. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  8;  labors 
against  slavery,  skill  of  as  a 
leader,  19. 

Freedmen's  Bureau,  287,  289; 
Pres.  Johnson  vetoes  bill  to  in 
crease  powers  of,  294 ;  bill 
amended,  passed,  297;  labors  of, 
357,  362. 

"  Free  Soil "  party,  previously 
"Liberty"  party,  gains  from 
Whigs  and  Democrats,  81. 

"  Free  Soilers,"  convention  of 
(1848),  nominates  Van  Buren, 
82;  form  alliance  with  Demo 
crats,  92 ;  nominate  John  P. 
Hale  for  President,  lose  Demo 
cratic  allies,  93 ;  vote  against 
Kansas-Nebraska  bill  in  House, 
114;  unite  with  Whigs  in  Mich, 
in  formation  of  Republican 
party,  115;  in  Republican  party, 
127. 

Free  State  men,  in  Kansas  strug 
gle,  117  ff;  refuse  to  vote  in 
Kansas,  150;  give  up  separate 
organization,  and  win,  152 ;  tri 
umph  of,  153. 

Fremont,  John  C.  (Gen.),  nomi 
nated  for  President,  126;  sketch 
of,  126  ff;  declares  martial  law, 
and  emancipation  of  slaves  ^  in 
Missouri,  248;  emancipation 
measure  of  set  aside  by  Lincoln, 
results  of  incident,  249. 

Fugitive  slave  law,  demanded  by 
South,  85 :  resisted  in  North, 
dissatisfaction  over,  91. 


420 


Index 


Calves  ton    Bulletin,    view    of    re 
construction  in,  267. 
Garfield,  James  A.,  in  House,  284, 

331- 

Garrison,  Wm.  Lloyd,  becomes  in 
terested  in  emancipation,  39; 
early  experiences,  founds  Libe 
rator,  principles,  40;  founds 
New  England  Anti-Slavery  So 
ciety,  44 ;  fight  of  against  slav 
ery,  51  ff;  aims  and  methods  of, 
52,  53 ;  followers  of  divided,  54 ; 
personality  of,  54 ;  mobbed,  55 ; 
scorns  Republican  party,  127; 
propagandism  of  i  n  fl  a  m  e  s 
North  and  South,  207;  declares 
all  war  unchristian,  210;  favors 
disunion,  217,  228. 

Geary,  John  W.,  governor  of 
Kansas,  117,  121. 

Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation, 
founded,  38;  39. 

Georgia,  demands  representation 
in  Congress  based  on  slave 
numbers,  n;  refuses  to  join 
Union  if  slave  trade  forbidden, 
12 ;  forbids  entry  of  free  negroes 
into  State,  forbids  circulation 
of  insurrectionary  pamphlets, 
41 ;  citizens  of  characterized, 
137;  becomes  pivotal  point  of 
Southern  politics,  138;  consid 
ers  secession  (1860),  221,  225; 
secedes,  226;  emancipation  in, 
260;  provisional  govt.  formed, 
275 ;  signs  of  promise  in  during 
reconstruction  period,  301 ; 
rights  of  negro  conserved  in, 
302 ;  readmitted,  relative  num 
ber  of  negro  voters  in,  311; 
Democrats  regain  control  in, 
323;  discrimination  against  ne 
gro  suffrage  in,  384. 

Giddings,  Joshua,  in  "Free  Soil" 
convention,  82. 

Godkin,  E.  L.,  327. 

Gold,  at  premium  of  250,  264. 

Gorman  bill  to  limit  suffrage,  de 
feated  (1005),  383,  note. 

Grand  Army  of  the  Republic, 
chooses  negro  commander  in 
Mass.,  406. 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.  (Gen.),  votes 
for  Buchanan,  130 ;  refuses  to 
exchange  prisoners,  246;  report 


of  on  conditions  in  South  after 
war,  286;  on  proper  policy 
toward  South,  302;  against  ex 
clusion  clauses  of  I4th  amend 
ment,  310;  nominated  for  Presi 
dent,  elected,  314;  problems  of 
administration,  displays  lack  of 
statesmanship,  324  ff ;  defeats  in 
flation  policy,  325;  personal 
honesty  of,  326;  strong  opposi 
tion  to  develops,  327;  promi 
nent  men  and  events  of  second 
term,  331  ff;  growth  of  inde 
pendence  of,  332;  recommends 
State  govt.  of  Arkansas  be  de 
clared  illegal,  344;  favors 
"  Force  bill,"  345 ;  disinclina 
tion  of  to  further  interference 
in  South,  345 ;  attitude  of  in  dis 
puted  States  in  1876,  349;  re 
marks  of  to  Lee  on  surrender, 
354- 

Greeley,  Horace,  votes  for  Taylor, 
82;  helps  prolong  Whig  organ 
ization  in  N.  Y.,  115;  sketch 
of,  140;  opposes  Seward  in  Re 
publican  canvention  (1860),  191; 
criticises  Lincoln,  Lincoln's  re 
ply  to,  255;  supports  Independ. 
Repub.  movement,  nominated 
for  President,  328;  nomination 
of  indorsed  by  Democrats, 
weakness  of  as  candidate,  gen 
erous  sentiment  of  toward 
South,  329;  bitter  opposition  to, 
defeat  and  death  of,  330. 

Grimes,  Senator,  votes  to  acquit 
President  Johnson,  312. 


HALE,  Edward  Everett,  in  New 
Eng.  Emigrant  Aid  Society,  116. 

Hale,  Eugene,  in  House,  331. 

Hale,  John  P.,  nominated  for 
President,  93. 

Hamlin,  Hannibal,  nominated  for 
Vice-President,  192. 

Hampton,  Wade,  nominated  for 
governor  of  So.  Carolina;  vio 
lence  of  campaign,  333 ;  claims 
governorship,  348 ;  governor, 

353- 

Hampton  Institute,  founded,  362 ; 
work  at  begun,  success  and 
growth  of,  363  ff;  work  of,  377. 


Index 


421 


Harper's  Ferry,  raid  on,  by  John 
Brown,  162  ff. 

Harper's  Weekly,  opposes  Greeley, 
330. 

Harrison,  Mrs.  Burton,  personal 
reminiscences  of  Virginia  be 
fore  the  war,  100. 

Harrison,  William  H.,  cam 
paign  of,  74- 

Hart,  Albert  Bushnell,  gives  esti 
mate  of  wealth  of  negroes,  375. 

Harvard  College,  awards  class 
oratorship  to  negro  (Bruce  of 
Miss.),  407- 

Hawley,  Joseph  R.  (Gen.),  in 
House,  331. 

Hawthorne,    Nathaniel,    242. 

Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  in  House, 
284;  nominated  for  President, 
347;  election  of  claimed,  348  ff; 
declared  elected,  352;  ends  mili 
tary  interference  in  South,  in 
augurates  new  regime,  353. 

Hayne,  Robert,  debate  of  with 
Webster,  33. 

Hedrick,  Prof.,  driven  from  North 
Carolina  for  anti-slavery  senti 
ments,  129. 

Helper,  Hinton  R.,  publishes  The 
Impending  Crisis,  109,  154; 
driven  from  N.  C,  157. 

Henderson,  Senator,  votes  to  ac 
quit  Pres.  Johnson,  312. 

Henry,  Patrick,  8;  views  of  on 
slavery,  19. 

Herndon,  William  H.,  Lincoln's 
partner  and  friend,  179,  180. 

Higginson,  Thomas  Wentworth, 
supports  John  Brown,  160. 

Hilo  (Hawaii)  Manual  School, 
360. 

Hoar,  George  F.,  characterizes 
Sumner,  282;  describes  polit. 
methods  of  Henry  Wilson,  283; 
in  House,  331 ;  on  Louisiana  in 
vestigation  committee,  343. 

Hoar,  Samuel,  driven  from  So. 
Carolina,  73;  joins  "Free  Soil" 
party,  81. 

Holt,  Joseph,  Secy,  of  War,  224. 

Holtzclaw,  William,  story  of, 
378. 

Hopkins,  John  H.   (Bishop),  141. 

Hopkins,  Mark,  as  president  of 
Williams  College,  356. 


Hopkins,  Samuel  (Dr.),  de 
nounces  slave  trade,  9. 

Howard,  O.  O.  (Gen.),  chief  of 
Freedmen's  Bureau,  289. 

Howard  University,  358. 

Howe,  S.  G.  (Dr.),  supports  John 
Brown,  160,  168. 

Hunter,  David  (Gen.),  attempts 
partial  emancipation  as  war 
measure,  253. 


ILLINOIS,  admitted  as  free  State, 
23;  attempt  to  introduce 
slavery  in,  34;  anti-slavery  riot 
ing  in,  74;  Abolitionists  in,  ally 
themselves  with  Republicans ; 
Lincoln  the  central  figure  at 
first  State  convention,  179. 

Impending  Crisis,  The,  109;  re 
sume  of,  154  ff;  effects  of,  157. 

Independent,  The,  criticises  Lin 
coln,  254. 

Indiana,   admitted   as   free   State, 

23. 
Indians,  unfitness  of  for  slavery, 

5- 


JACKSON,  Andrew,  characteristics, 
administration,  29 ;  denounces 
nullification,  33;  opposes  cir 
culation  of  anti-slavery  litera 
ture  through  U.  S.  mails,  72. 

Jackson,    Stonewall,    135. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  8;  denounces 
slave  trade  in  first  draft  of  Decl. 
of  Independ. ;  plans  of  for  grad 
ual  emancipation,  9,  17-18,  and 
for  exclusion  of  slavery  from 
unorganized  territory,  9;  polit. 
ideals,  views  on  slavery,  17 ; 
unskillful  as  President,  21 ;  fears 
of  for  Union ;  sympathies  with 
slave  States,  jealous  of  State 
rights,  25,  250;  on  dangers  of 
slavery,  391. 

Jenkins,  Charles  J.  (Goy.),  pleads 
for  negro  rights  in  inaugural, 
301. 

Jerry,  fugitive  slave,  rescued,  91. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  in  Senate,  214; 
early  life  arid  character  of,  be 
comes  President,  273;  retains 
Lincoln's  cabinet;  Seward's  in- 


422 


Index 


fluence  on,  274;  issues  procla 
mation  of  amnesty;  appoints 
provisional  governors  in  South, 
275;  favors  qualified  negro  suf 
frage,  276;  message  (1865),  281; 
policy  of  reconstruction  of  op 
posed  in  Congress,  285  fT;  sup 
ported  by  Democrats,  286; 
vetoes  Freedmen's  Bureau  bill, 
294,  296 ;  loses  support  of  party ; 
undignified  speech  of  strength 
ens  opposition  to,  295 ;  vetoes 
Civil  Rights  bill,  297;  strong 
opposition  t  o  reconstruction 
policy  of,  303;  undignified  con 
duct  of  during  tour  of  North, 
304;  impeachment  and  trial  of, 
311  ff;  acquitted;  in  Senate; 
place  of  in  history,  312. 

Johnson,  Herschel  V.,  nominated 
for  Vice-President,  188;  op 
poses  immediate  secession,  225. 

Johnson,   Oliver,  44. 

Johnson,  Reverdy,  in  U.  S.  Senate, 
284. 

Jones,  C.  C.  (Rev.),  on  condition 
of  slaves,  49. 

KANSAS,  struggle  for,  116  ff; 
stringent  slavery  laws  in,  117; 
forms  issue  of  Repub.  party's 
first  campaign,  127;  Walker  ap 
pointed  governor  of ;  struggle 
in,  150  ff;  admitted  to  Union, 
152. 

Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  112;  effects 
of  on  election  (1854),  115;  re 
sults  of,  116. 

Kealing,  H.  T.,  379. 

Keitt,  Lawrence,  with  Brooks  in 
assault  on  Sumner,  122. 

Kellogg,  William  P.,  in  govern 
ment  of  Louisiana,  341. 

Kemble,  Fanny,  describes  slavery 
in  "  A  Residence  on  a  Georgia 
Plantation,"  103  ff. 

Kendall,  Amos,  72. 

Kentucky,  attempt  to  establish  as 
free  State,  22;  refuses  to  con 
sider  secession,  but  promises  to 
aid  South  if  invaded,  227 ;  re 
mains  in  Union,  235;  Lincoln 
tries  to  bind  faster  to  Union, 
252;  rejects  I3th  amendment, 
262,  276;  rejects  15th  amend 


ment,  315;  law  in  to  prohibit 
coeducation  of  races,  385. 

Kerr,  Michael  C.,  speaker  of 
House,  346. 

Key,  David  M.,  Postmaster-Gen 
eral  under  Hayes,  353. 

"  Kitchen  Cabinet "  of  Gen.  Grant, 

325- 

Knapp,  Isaac,  partner  of  Garrison, 
40. 

"  Know-nothings,"  1 15  ;  nominate 
ex-President  Fillmore  (1856)  ; 
platform;  seceders  from  nomi 
nate  Banks,  129. 

Ku  Klux  Klan,  322,  326,  327. 

LANE,  Joseph,  nominated  for  Vice- 
President,  188. 

Lane  Seminary,  trouble  at,  over 
anti-slavery  movement,  37. 

Lanier,  Sidney,  410. 

Lawrence,  Kansas,  founded,  116; 
attack  on,  119. 

Leavitt,  Joshua,  44. 

Lecompton  constituton  framed, 
scouted  by  free  State  men,  150; 
urged  by  Buchanan  administra 
tion,  151 ;  defeated,  152. 

LeConte,  Joseph,  reminiscences  of 
slavery,  49. 

Lee,  Fitzhugh,  410. 

Lee,  Robert  E.  (Gen.),  95,  I3SJ 
captures  John  Brown,  163;  op 
poses  secession,  227 ;  chief  hero 
of  Confederacy,  263 ;  surrenders, 
270,  354;  becomes  president  of 
Washington  Univ.,  355. 

Liberator,  The,  founded,  40. 

Liberia,    colony   estab.,    22. 

Liberty,  Washington's  conception 
of,  3- 

Liberty  party,  75  ff;  becomes 
"  Free  Soil  "  party,  81. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  views  on  Dred 
Scott  decision,  149;  nominated 
for  Senator,  defeated,  153;  on 
endurance  of  Union,  153;  early 
life  and  characteristics  of,  172 
ff;  political  career  begins,  177; 
attitude  of  on  slavery,  178,  181; 
central  figure  in  Ills.  Republican 
convention,  179 ;  debates  with 
Douglas,  180 ;  Cooper  Inst.  ad 
dress  of;  proves  right  of  Con 
gress  to  control  slavery  in  the 


Index 


423 


Territories;  shows  stand  Re 
publicans  must  take,  182 ; 
schemes  of  friends  for  in  Re- 
pub,  convention  (1860),  190; 
states  principles,  191 ;  nomi 
nated  for  President,  192 ; 
elected,  194 ;  answers  secessionist 
arguments,  215 ;  personal  in 
terest  of  in  slavery,  217;  im 
mediate  results  of  election  of, 
221 ;  pronounce?  inaugural,  231 ; 
form3  cabinet,  difficulties,  233 ; 
sends  aid  to  Ft.  Sumter,  234; 
issues  call  for  militia,  235;  atti 
tude  of  toward  emancipation, 
249,  252,  253,  255;  tact  and 
shrewdness  of,  249,  256,  257;  in 
close  touch  with  people,  249; 
his  conception  of  his  mission, 
249;  difficulties  of  administra 
tion,  249,  251;  his  detestation 
of  slavery,  250;  scheme  of  for 
compensated  emancipation,  252 ; 
announces  his  power  as  Com 
mander-in-chief  to  emancipate 
slaves  as  war  •  measure,  253 ; 
criticism  of,  253  ff;  replies  to 
Greeley's  criticisms,  255 ;  lays 
emancipation  proclamation  be 
fore  cabinet,  256 ;  adopts 
Seward's  advice  to  delay  pro 
mulgation  of,  257;  reintroduces 
to  cabinet  after  McClellan's 
victory,  258 ;  issues  prelim,  proc 
lamation  ;  embodies  views  on 
emancipation  in  message  to 
Congress,  259;  administration 
of  repudiated  in  election  of 
1862,  261 ;  re-elected,  262,  265 ; 
delivers  second  inaugural,  266; 
offers  amnesty  to  Confederates, 
268;  invites  return  of  seceded 
States ;  leaves  reconstruction 
bill  (1864)  unsigned,  269;  plans 
of  opposed  in  Congress,  270; 
makes  public  statement  of  views 
on  reconstruction,  271 ;  assassi 
nation  of,  271 ;  summary  of  po 
litical  achievements  of,  272. 

Literature,  growth  of  Southern, 
380  ff. 

Longfellow,  Henry  W.,  work  of, 

145- 

Longstreet,  Gen.,  advises  accept 
ance  of  inevitable,  acts  with 


Republicans,  denounced  and  os 
tracized,  318. 

Louisiana,  admitted  as  free  State, 
23;  secedes,  226;  emancipation 
in,  260;  new  Constitution  and 
State  govt.  in,  271 ;  provisional 
govt.  established  in,  269,  275 ; 
applies  for  admission  of  U.  S. 
Senators  (1864-5),  270;  recon 
structed,  310;  negro  votes  in 
majority  in,  311;  Presidential 
vote  of  contested  (1876),  348 
ff;  State  vote  of  contested,  349; 
"carpet-bag"  rule  in,  341  ff; 
"  Conservatives "  organize  op 
position  in,  struggle  over  gov 
ernorship  in,  341 ;  cruelty  and 
corruption  in,  342 ;  Federal  in 
tervention  in,  343;  legal  limita 
tion  of  suffrage  in,  83. 

Louisiana  purchase,  22,  24. 

Lovejoy,  Elijah  P.,  74. 

Lowell,  attacks  slavery  and  war  in 
"  Biglow  Papers,"  77;  labors  of 
for  freedom;  edits  Atlantic, 
144 ;  upbraids  Lincoln  in  "  Big- 
low  Papers,"  254;  war  poems 
of,  265. 

Lundy,  Benjamin,  sketch  of,  38  ff. 

Lynch,  John  R.,  speaker  of  the 
House,  336. 

Lyon,  Mary,  founds  Mt.  Holyoke 
Seminary,  362. 

MCCLELLAN,  George  B.  (Gen.), 
leader  of  Conservatives,  warns 
Lincoln  not  to  move  against 
slavery,  255;  success  of  against 
Lee,  258;  Democrats  nominate 
for  President. 

McCrary,  George  W.,  Secy,  of 
War  under  Hayes,  353. 

McEnery,  John,  claims  governor 
ship  of  Louisiana,  341,  342. 

McLean,  Justice,  dissents  from 
Dred  Scott  decision,  148. 

Madison,  James,  against  strength 
ening  slave  power,  n;  as  Presi 
dent,  21. 

Mails,  U.  S.,  circulation  of  anti- 
slavery  documents  through,  72. 

Marcy,  William  L.,  Secretary  of 
State,  128. 

Maryland,  forbids  importation  of 
slaves,  9;  stops  importation,  20; 


424 


Index 


elects  anti-slavery  members  to 
House  of  Delegates,  36;  ir 
regular  secession  convention  in, 
227;  remains  in  Union,  235; 
Lincoln  tries  to  bind  faster  to 
Union,  252;  rejects  amendment 
against  negro  suffrage  (1905), 
383  note;  rejects  I5th  amend 
ment,  385. 

Mason,  George,  opposes  strength 
ening  of  slave  power,  n,  12. 

Mason,  James  M.,  89;  with  Bu 
chanan  and  Soule  issues  Ostend 
manifesto,  128. 

Massachusetts,  slaves  freed  in,  9; 
negroes  granted  suffrage  in, 
number  of  negroes  in,  1780; 
in  slave  trade,  9 ;  aids  extreme 
South  to  prolong  slave  trade, 
13;  indifferent  to  slave  trade, 
20 ;  *'  Know-nothings  "  carry 
election  of  1854  in,  115;  leads 
North  in  opposing  secession, 
229;  Republicans  in  fail  to  in 
dorse  Pres.  Johnson,  276. 

May,  Samuel  J.  (Rev.),  44;  con 
versation  with  Dr.  Channing  on 
anti-slavery,  61  ff. 

Mexico,  war  with,  76  ff;  ends,  79; 
proposal  to  annex,  Calif,  taken 
from,  79. 

Middle  States,  in  slave  trade,  9; 
slavery  abolished  in,  20. 

Mississippi,  admitted  as  slave 
State,  23 ;  considers  secession 
(1860),  221;  secedes,  225; 
emancipation  in,  260;  gives 
qualified  assent  to  I3th  amend 
ment,  262;  provisional  gov't 
formed  in,  275;  delays  her  re 
turn  to  Union,  310;  negro  voters 
outnumber  white  in,  311;  under 
martial  law,  316;  "carpet-bag" 
rule  in,  333  ff;  statistics  on  mis- 
government  in,  334  ff;  misgovt. 
and  corruption  in  exaggerated, 
338;  Democrats  organize  oppo 
sition  and  practice  intimidation 
in>  339  ff;  legal  limitation  of 
suffrage  in,  383. 

Missouri,  bill  to  organize  as  State, 
23;  geographical  relation  of  to 
free  States,  24;  debate  on  ad 
mission,  24  ff;  Compromise,  25 
ff;  admitted  as  slave  State,  27; 


mobs  form  in  struggle  for 
Kansas,  116;  votes  not  to  secede, 
227;  remains  in  Union,  235; 
Lincoln  tries  to  bind  faster  to 
Union;  Republican  party  breaks 
up  in,  327. 

Morgan,  Edwin  P.  (ex-Gov.),  sup 
ports  Pres.  Johnson,  294. 

Morton,  Oliver  P.,  party  leader, 
331 ;  favors  "  Force  bill "  in 
Senate,  345;  Presidential  candi 
date,  346. 

Moses,  F.  J.,  Jr.,  governor  of  So. 
Carolina,  332. 

Mott,  Lucretia,  56. 

Mount  Holyoke  Seminary,  found 
ed,  plan  for  students  to  earn 
expenses  fails  at,  362. 

Murphy,  Edgar  G.,  "  The  Present 
South,"  388;  on  negro  problem, 
408. 

NASHVILLE  convention,  to  pro 
mote  interests  of  South,  90,  138. 

Nation,  The,  supports  Independent 
Republicans,  327;  refuses  to 
support  Greeley,  329. 

Nat  Turner  insurrection,  41. 

Nebraska,  112. 

Negroes  (see  also  SLAVES, 
SLAVERY,  EDUCATION),  superior 
ity  of  over  Indians  as  slaves,  5 ; 
advantages  and  disadvantages 
of  slavery  to,  5 ;  granted  suf 
frage  in  Mass,  and  other  States, 
9;  number  of  in  Mass,  in  1780, 
9;  number  of  in  other  States, 
see  SLAVES  ;  condition  of  in 
North  before  the  war,  37;  (for 
condition  of  in  South,  see  SLAV 
ERY,  SLAVES)  ;  proposed  college 
for,  37;  violence  against  in- 
North,  74;  status  of  in  America 
defined  by  Dred  Scott  decision, 
147,  148;  citizenship  rights  of 
declared  in  New  York,  149;  U. 
S.  army  and  navy  opened  to  en 
listment  of,  260;  enlist  in  Union 
armies,  martial  qualities  of,  261 ; 
good  qualities  of  displayed  in 
war,  263 ;  Pres.  Johnson  favors 
qualified  suffrage  for,  276; 
Henry  Ward  Beecher's  views  on 
suffrage  for,  278;  education  of 
urged  by  Beecher,  279;  South's 


Index 


425 


estimate  of  after  war,  280,  287; 
behavior  of  after  emancipation, 
287 ;  repressive  laws  against,  fol 
lowing  war,  287,  288 ;  their  mis 
conception  of  freedom,  289; 
laws  governing  labor  of  after 
war,  290  ff;  law  against  associa 
tion  of  whites  with,  290;  abuse 
of  by  Southern  whites,  292 ; 
their  necessities  force  them  to 
labor,  293;  leaders  in  Georgia 
plead  for  rights  of,  301 ;  suf 
frage  for  in  South  the  central 
feature  of  Reconstruction  bill, 
308;  suffrage  for  favored  by 
North,  308,  309;  broad  concep 
tion  of,  309;  number  of  voters 
among  in  Southern  States  com 
pared  to  white  voters,  311; 
many  Northern  States  refuse 
suffrage  to,  314;  unfitness  of  in 
South  for  suffrage,  choose 
delegates  to  const,  conventions, 
317;  sudden  political  power  of 
doubtful  benefit  to,  318;  as  a 
body  lack  independence;  affiliate 
with  Republican  party ;  become 
estranged  from  old  masters, 
319;  in  high  political  offices,  321, 
333,  336;  not  guilty  of  physical 
violence,  323 ;  national  education 
of  neglected,  325,  326 ;  manner  of 
toward  whites,  338;  organized 
resistance  to  voting  of  in  South, 
340 ;  intimidated  at  polls,  352 ; 
problem  of  disposition  of,  355 ; 
views  on  in  North  and  South, 
-356;  condition  and  needs  of 
after  war,  357,  358;  beginnings 

-of  higher  education  for,  358; 
religion  of,  359";  Gen.  Arm 
strong's  labors  in  behalf  of,  see 
Armstrong,  Samuel ;  problem  of 
disappears  as  central  feature  in 
national  politics,  371 ;  polit.  pre 
ponderance  of  in  South  ended, 
371 ;  suffrage  of  practically 
nullified  in  South,  but  large  de 
gree  of  civil  rights  secured  to, 
372;  Southern  whites  under 
take  education  of  with  energy 
and  success,  373;  refused  social 
equality  at  South,  and  often  at 
North,  373  ff;  improved  social 

—  conditions,   and  increased  num 


bers  of,  374  ff;  present  wealth, 
skill,  intelligence,  and  moral 
status  of,  375  ff;  development 
of  leadership  among,  376  ff.,  379 ; 
legal  limitation  of  suffrage  of 
in  South,  382  ff;  practical  dis- 
franchisement  ofY  384,  388; 
threatened  narrowing  of  indus 
trial  opportunities  the  greatest 
danger  to,  385 ;  unfortunate 
social  position  of,  386 ;  hopes  of 
future  betterment,  387 ;  esti 
mated  amt.  paid  out  for  educa 
tion  of  to  date ;  better  industrial 
education  for,  388;  neces 
sity  for  all  to  face  the  problem 
of;  great  responsibility  on  lead 
ers  of,  392  ff ;  present  phase  of 
problem,  necessity  of  abolishing 
caste  spirit,  393;  industrial  posi 
tion  of,  394  ff ;  attitude  of  trade 
unions  toward,  385,  395 ;  dangers 
consequent  upon  exclusion  from 
unions,  396;  need  of  higher  edu 
cation  for,  398;  present  polit. 
status  of,  400;  attitude  of 
toward  suffrage,  401 ;  should 
have  fair  share  of  public  offices, 
403;  government  aid  in  educa 
tion  advocated,  404;  growing 
recognition  of  in  North,  406  ff; 
results  of  social  ostracism  on, 
suggested  means  to  avoid,  408. 

Negro  Problem,  The,  by  Book 
er  Washington  and  others,  379. 
New  England  (See  also  NORTH, 
MASSACHUSETTS,)  Washington's 
opinion  of,  2;  slave  labor  un 
profitable  in;  industries  in,  6; 
negroes  granted  suffrage  in,  9; 
aids  extreme  South  in  exten 
sion  of  slave  trade,  13. 

New  England  Anti-slavery  Soci 
ety,  founded,  44. 

New  England  Emigrant  Aid  Soci 
ety,  formed,  116. 

New  Hampshire,  number  of  slaves 
in  in  1790,  9;  slavery  abolished 
in,  21. 

New  Haven,  labors  in  for  negroes, 
36. 

New  Jersey,  votes  against  exten 
sion  of  slave  trade,  13;  passes 
emancipation  law,  22;  counted 
as  free  State,  23;  declares  for 


426 


Index 


emancipation,  35;  rejects  I5th 
amendment,  315. 

New  Mexico,  South  demands  per 
mission  of  slavery  in,  84. 

New  Orleans,  riot  in,  303. 

New  York  Evening  Post,  supports 
Independent  Republicans,  327 ; 
refuses  support  to  Greeley,  329. 

New  York  Herald,  141,   164,  193. 

New  York  Times,  141,  347. 

New  York  Tribune,  influence  of, 
140,  141 ;  against  forcible  re 
pression  of  secession  movement, 
228 ;  criticises  Lincoln,  255 ; 
supports  Independent  Republi 
cans,  328;  unearths  Hayes- 
Tilden  telegrams,  352. 

New  York  State,  number  of 
slaves  in  in  1790,  9;  passes 
emancipation  law,  22;  counted 
as  free  State,  23;  delegation  of 
to  "  Free  Soil "  convention 
(1848),  82;  declares  right  of 
citizenship  for  negroes,  149. 

Nicholls,  Francis  T.,  claims  gov 
ernorship  of  Louisiana,  349;  be 
comes  governor,  353. 

North,  the  (see  also  NEW  ENG 
LAND),  slavery  unprofitable  in, 
5 ;  aids  extreme  South  in  extend 
ing  slave  trade,  13 ;  slavery  abol- 

—  ished  in,  20;  surpasses  South  in 
population  and  wealth ;  increased 
representation  in  House,  24; 
its  economic  advantages  over 
South,  69  ff;  violence  against 
negroes  in,  74;  disputes  with 
South  over  new  territory,  80 ; 
dissatisfaction  in  over  Compro 
mise  measures  of  1850;  passes 
"  Personal  Liberty  Laws,"  91 ; 
outstrips  South  in  industrial, 
literary,  and  religious  growth, 
advantages  of  South  over,  94; 
growth  of  anti-slavery  feeling 
in,  113  ff;  best  intelligence  of  in 
early  Republican  party,  127;  re 
sents  polit.  aggression  of  South 
more  than  slavery,  128;  leaders 
of  (1850-60),  132;  leaders  of, 
140  ff;  attitude  of  clergy  in  to 
ward  slavery,  141 ;  economic  con 
ditions  in  compared  with  those 
of  South,  156;  John  Brown's 
raid  intensifies  conviction 


against  slavery  in,  167;  growing 
distrust  of  South  in,  169;  posi 
tion  of  on  secession,  etc.,  200  ff ; 
underlying  divergences  from 
South  in  sentiment  and  char 
acter  of,  205  ff;  religious  life 
in,  206;  inflamed  against  South; 
sources  o  f  misunderstanding, 
207 ;  varied  occupations  in,  208 ; 
secession  movement  causes  con 
sternation  in,  209;  strongly  in 
clined  to  peace;  disbelieves  in 
Southern  courage,  210;  grounds 
for  resistance  of  secession  in ; 
impatient  of  Southern  political 
dominance,  212;  reasons  for 
failure  of  disunion  movement 
in,  218  ff;  disinclination  in  to 
use  force  against  secession 
movement,  228;  Mass,  becomes 
leader  in,  229 ;  united  in  resist 
ance  to  secession,  235 ;  views  on 
Civil  war  in,  237 ;  bitter  feeling 
against  South  in,  241 ;  moral 
effect  of  war  on,  244;  Unionism 
the  absorbing  issue  in,  248; 
party  divisions  in,  253;  growing 
sentiment  in  against  slavery, 
254;  courage  of  in  war,  262; 
advantages  of  over  South,  264; 
joy  in  over  prospect  of  success, 
268;  opposes  Johnson's  recon 
struction  plans,  288 ;  current 
opinion  in  on  cause  of  secession, 
300;  hatred  of  Jefferson  Davis 
in,  301 ;  general  temper  in  hos 
tile  to  Pres.  Johnson,  312;  feel 
ing  of  relief  in  after  Grant's 
election,  315;  resumption  of 
business  in,  316;  immigration 
from  into  South,  319;  growing 
tendency  in  to  accord  social 
equality  to  negroes,  373  ff, 
406. 

North  Carolina,  emancipation 
favored  in,  36;  right  of  free 
speech  vindicated  in,  129;  votes 
against  secession  convention, 
229;  secedes,  235;  emancipation 
in,  260 ;  provisional  govt.  formed 
in,  275;  reconstructed,  310;  rela 
tive  number  of  negro  voters  in, 
311;  Democrats  regain,  323; 
legal  limitation  of  suffrage  in, 
383- 


Index 


427 


Northwestern  Territory,  slavery 
prohibited  in,  10. 

Nullification,  So.  Carolina  claims 
right  of,  32 ;  denounced  by  Jack 
son,  33 ;  opposed  in  "  Force  bill  " 
of  1833,  335  question  dropped, 
34J  214. 

OBERLIN  COLLEGE,  becomes  anti- 
slavery  stronghold,  37;  plan  for 
students  to  earn  expenses  fails 
at,  362. 

O'Conor,  Charles,  nominated  for 
President,  329. 

Ohio,  admitted  as  free  State,  23; 
declares  for  emancipation,  35. 

Olmsted,  Frederic  Law,  on  con 
dition  of  slaves  in  South  be 
fore  the  war,  49;  volumes 
of  travels  in  the  slave  States, 
107  ff. 

Ordinance  of  1784,  fails  to  limit 
slave  territory,  10. 

Ordinance  of  1787,  limits  slave 
territory,  10. 

Oregon,  boundary  dispute,  80; 
rejects  15th  amendment,  315; 
double  returns  from  in  Hayes- 
Tilden  election,  351. 

Ostend  manifesto,  128. 

PACKARD,  S.  B.,  in  govt.  of  Louisi 
ana,  341;  claims  governorship, 
349- 

Paine,  Thomas,  8. 

Parker,  Theodore,  influence  of  in 
church  and  state,  143;  supports 
John  Brown,  160,  168. 

Peace  Congress,  proposed,  to  find 
means  to  preserve  the  Union, 
228. 

Pendleton,  George  H.,  candidate 
for  Presidential  nomination,  313. 

Pennsylvania,  number  of  slaves  in 
in  1790,  9;  votes  against  ex 
tension  of  slave  trade,  13; 
passes  emancipation  law,  21 ; 
counted  as  free  State,  23;  de 
clares  for  emancipation,  35 ; 
Republicans  fail  to  indorse 
Pres.  Johnson,  276. 

Peonage  cases,  prosecution  of, 
388. 

Personal  Liberty  Laws,  passed  in 
North,  91. 


Petigru,  James  L.,  223. 

Petitions  to  Congress,  anti-slavery, 
71  ff. 

Pettus,    Gov.,   of  Mississippi,  221. 

Philadelphia,  convention  in  behalf 
of  Pres.  Johnson  at,  303. 

Phillips,  Wendell,  becomes  ally  of 
Garrison,  54;  scorns  Republican 
party,  127;  declares  all  war  un- 
Christian,  210;  favors  disunion, 
217,  228;  abuses  Lincoln,  254. 

Pierce,  Franklin,  nominated  for, 
and  elected  President,  93 ;  recog 
nizes  usurpers  in  Kansas  strug 
gle,  117. 

Pierce,  Henry  L.,  in  House,  331 ; 
vote  of  in  Hayes-Tilden  contest, 
352. 

Pinckneys,  Charles  and  Thomas, 
demand  freedom  of  slave 
trade,  12  ff. 

Pittsburg,  counter  convention  at, 
303. 

Platte  country,  the,  1 12. 

Polk,  James  K.,  nominated  for 
President,  75  ;  elected ;  declares 
war  with  Mexico,  76. 

Poor  whites,  evil  effects  of  slav 
ery  on,  no. 

"  Present  South,  The/'  by  E.  G. 
Murphy,  388,  408. 

Pottawatomie  massacre,  120;  re 
sults  of,  121. 

Presbyterian  church,  condemns 
slavery,  35. 

Prisons,  military,  terrors  of,  245  ff. 

Protection.  See  TARIFF,  PRO 
TECTIVE. 

QUAKERS,  relation  of  to  slavery,  7. 

RANDALL,     Samuel    J.,   in    House, 

284 ;  speaker,  346. 
Randolph,    John,    his    opinion    of 

slavery,  47. 
Randolph,     Thos.     Jefferson,     his 

scheme  of  emancipation,  43. 
Rankin,  John,  38. 
Rantpul,     Robert,     joins     "Free 

Soil "  party,  81. 
Raymond,     Henry     J.,      141 ;     in 

House,     284;      supports      Pres. 

Johnson's  plan  of  reconstruction, 

285,  303. 
Reconstruction,   267    ff;    Lincoln's 

plans  for  and  views  on,  268  ff; 


428 


Index 


271;  congressional  bill  (1864), 
rejected  by  Lincoln,  269;  Lin 
coln's  plans  for  opposed  by  Con 
gress,  270;  first  Congressional 
plan  of,  274  ff;  President 
Johnson's  plan  of,  275 ;  Henry 
Ward  Beecher's  plan  of, 
277  ff;  John  A.  Andrew's  plan 
of,  280;  both  latter  plans  too 
advanced  for  the  time,  280; 
action  taken  on  by  Congress 
(1865-6),  281  ff;  Pres.  Johnson's 
plan  of  opposed  in  Congress, 
285 ;  second  Congressional  plan 
of,  294  ff;  difficulties  of  question 
increased  by  lack  of  statesmen 
to  handle,  302;  two  policies  of 
before  the  country,  South  in 
dorses  Pres.  Johnson's  plan  of, 
303;  final  plan  of,  306  ff;  bill 
passed,  306;  results  of  bill,  307, 
310;  verdict  of  country  on  work 
of,  312  ff;  the  working  out  of, 
316  ff;  the  last  act,  344  ff. 

"  Reconstruction  and  the  Con 
stitution,"  by  Prof.  J.  W.  Bur 
gess,  290. 

Reeder,  Governor,  of  Kansas,  117. 

Republican  party  (see  also  RE 
PUBLICANS),  beginnings  of,  114 
ff;  components  of,  115;  first 
Presidential  convention  of,  124 
ff;  principles,  leaders,  constitu 
ency,  successes,  and  failures  of 
in  first  (1856)  campaign  of,  127; 
opposition  to  in  first  campaign, 
128 ;  weakness  of  in  South,  129 ; 
composition  of  opposition  to, 
and  causes  of  defeat  of  in  first 
campaign,  130;  stand  of  on 
negro  question  (1860),  186; 
origin  of  protectionist  character 
of,  190;  geographical  lines  of 
in  1860  campaign,  192;  de 
nounced  in  1860  campaign,  193 
ff;  restriction  of  slavery  the 
supreme  principle  of,  212;  Sum- 
ner's  belief  in,  319;  freedmen 
instinctively  turn  to,  319; 
leaders  of  in  Grant's  second 
term,  331. 

Republicans,  hold  first  (1856) 
Presidential  convention,  124  ff; 
nominate  John  C.  Fremont  for 
President,  126;  Wm.  L.  Dayton 


for  Vice-President,  129;  plat 
form,  126;  denounce  Ostend 
manifesto,  129;  dissent  from 
Dred  Scott  decision,  148,  149; 
gain  in  numbers,  name  Lincoln 
for  U.  S.  Senator,  153 ;  first  Illi 
nois  convention  of,  179;  cam 
paign,  180  ff;  not  in  John 
Brown's  raid,  183;  hold  conven 
tion  (1860),  189  ff;  platform, 
190;  struggle  bet  Seward  and 
Lincoln  men  in,  190,  191 ; 
nominate  Lincoln  and  Hamlin, 
192;  elect  candidates  (1860), 
194;  results  of  success  of,  221; 
oppose  secession,  223,  224,  225; 
oppose  schemes  for  extension  of 
slavery,  228;  vainly  concede 
many  points  to  South,  229;  di 
vide  over  war  questions,  253; 
reaction  against  in  elections  of 
1862,  261 ;  success  of  in  1864, 
262,  265 ;  indorse  President 
Johnson,  276;  assert  right  of 
Congress  to  direct  reconstruc 
tion,  leaders  oppose  Pres.  John 
son's  plan  of,  286;  opinion  of 
turns  against  Johnson,  294;  in 
creased  strength  of  in  Congress 
(1866-7),  306;  in  Senate  vote  to 
acquit  Pres.  Johnson,  312 ; 
adopt  moderate  platform,  nomi 
nate  and  elect  Grant  (1868), 
314;  in  temporary  control  of 
South,  323,  327 ;  change  attitude 
tword  South,  independent  move 
ment  among,  327;  Independents 
hold  convention  (1872),  328;  in 
gov't  of  South,  332  ff;  lose 
heavily  in  Congressional  elec 
tions  of  1874,  suspected  of  mal 
administration,  344;  many  op 
pose  Force  bill  of  1875,  345 ; 
hold  convention  (1876),  346; 
nominate  Hayes,  campaign,  347 ; 
claim  election  of  Hayes,  348  ff. 

"  Residence  on  a  Georgia  Plan 
tation,  A."  103. 

Rhett,  Senator,  proposes  secession, 

89- 
Rhode   Island,   in  slave  trade,  9; 

passes  emancipation  law,  21. 
Rhodes,   "History  of  the  U.   S.," 

quoted,  301,  302. 
Robinson,      Chas.      S.,     gov.     of 


Index 


429 


Kansas,  117  ff;  his  house  burned, 
119. 

Roosevelt,  President,  South  criti 
cises  for  entertainment  of 
Booker  Washington,  386. 

Ross,  Senator,  votes  to  acquit 
Pres.  Johnson,  312. 

SANBORN,  Franklin  B.,  supports 
John  Brown,  160. 

San  Domingo,  proposed  annex 
ation  of,  328. 

"  Scalawags,"   the,   318. 

Schurz,  Carl,  on  conditions  in 
South  after  war,  286  ff;  292; 
favors  negro  suffrage,  309;  in 
Republican  convention  (1868), 
314;  leads  Independent  Republi 
cans  in  Missouri,  327;  in  U.  S. 
Senate,  328;  Sec'y  of  Interior 
under  Hayes,  353;  on  peonage 
cases  in  South,  388;  on  future 
of  negro  question,  389. 

Scott,  R.  K.,  governor  of  S.  Caro 
lina,  332. 

Scott.  Winfield  (Gen.),  nominated 
for  President,  92 ;  against  armed 
repression  of  secession,  228. 

Secession,  Clay  denies  right  of, 
86;  Webster  declares  impossible 
with  peace,  87;  threats  of  in 
Congress  denounced  by  Taylor 
and  Clay,  89;  open  threats  of  in 
South,  193;  not  taken  seriously 
at  North,  194;  denounced  by 
Douglas,  194;  Southern  position 
on  defined,  197  ff;  Northern 
position  on  defined,  200  ff; 
slavery  question  the  real  basis 
of  21 1 ;  grounds  for  resistance 
of  at  North,  212;  extreme  abo 
litionists  not  opposed  to,  212; 
arguments  for  and  against,  212 
ff,  226;  reasons  for  success  of 
movement  in  South  and  failure 
of  in  North,  218  ff;  sources  of 
movement  in  South,  219;  action 
of  Southern  States  on  follow 
ing  Lincoln's  election,  221  ff; 
discussed  in  Congress  (1860), 
223 ;  advised  by  Southern  leaders 
in  Congress,  225;  triumph  of 
movement,  226 ;  movement  halts, 
227;  various  Southern  States 
take  action  on;  general  senti 


ment  in  South  against  armed 
repression  of,  227;  disinclina 
tion  in  North  to  use  force 
against,  228;  West  strongly 
against  movement,  228;  Mass, 
takes  strong  stand  against,  229 
ff;  plea  of  Lincoln  against,  232; 
current  Northern  opinion  of 
causes  of,  300. 

Secessionists  (see  SECESSION), 
propose  disunion,  and  for 
mation  of  Southern  Confed 
eracy,  215. 

Seelye,  Julius  H.,  vote  of  in 
Hayes-Tilden  contest,  352. 

Senate,  State  representation  in  de 
termined,  ii ;  South  strives  to 
keep  up  numbers  in,  24;  strong 
hold  of  South,  81. 

Sewall,  Samuel,  protests  against 
slavery,  7. 

Seward,  William  H.,  votes  for 
Taylor,  82;  influence  and 
strength  of,  82;  his  plan  of 
emancipation,  83;  speaks  in 
Senate  against  extension  of 
slavery,  89  ff;  helps  prolong 
Whig  organization  in  New 
York,  115;  in  Republican  party, 
127 ;  opinion  of  on  Dred  Scott 
decision,  149;  opinion  of  on 
future  labor  conditions  in  Union, 
154;  logical  candidate  for  Presi 
dency  (1860),  190;  in  Lincoln's 
cabinet,  233,  249;  Lincoln  adopts 
advice  of  to  delay  issuance  of 
emancipation  proclamation,  257; 
in  Johnson's  cabinet,  his  in 
fluence  on  the  President,  274; 
supports  Pres.  Johnson,  303. 

Seymour,  Horatio,  nominated  for 
President,  characterized,  313; 
defeated,  States  carried  by,  314. 

Shadrach,  fugitive  slave,  rescued, 
91. 

Shaffer,  President,  urges  admis 
sion  of  capable  negroes  to  trade 
unions,  395. 

Shannon,  Wilson,  gov.  of  Kansas, 
117. 

Shaw,   Robert   Gould,   264. 

Shellabarger,  Samuel,  in  House, 
284,  286. 

Sheridan,  Gen'l,  sent  to  investigate 
Louisiana  election  scandals,  343. 


430 


Index 


Sherman,  John,  in  U.  S.  Senate, 
283,  285;  endeavors  to  stem 
tide  against  Pres.  Johnson,  296; 
defeats  Stevens's  reconstruction 
bill,  306;  superiority  of  over 
Elaine,  307;  Sec'y  of  Treasury 
under  Hayes,  353. 

Sherman,  William  T.  (Gen.),  his 
opinion  of  war,  244,  245. 

Slaveholders,  numbers  of.  char 
acteristics,  95. 

Slave  Laws,  compiled  and  pub 
lished  by  Stroud,  no. 

Slavery.  (See  also  SLAVES,  SLAVE 
TRADE.)  Washington's  opinion 
of,  3 ;  origin,  growth,  regulation 
and  defense  of,  3  ff;  legally 
recognized  in  Judea,  Greece,  and 
Rome,  by  Jesus  and  the  early 
church,  4;  supplants  free  peas 
antry  in  Italy,  4;  influence  of 
Christianity  on,  4;  absolute, 
abolished  throughout  Christen 
dom,  supplanted  by  serfdom,  4; 
recrudescence  of  in  I7th  and 
i8th  centuries,  4;  economic 

-conditions  determine  location  of 
in  America,  5 ;  unprofitable  in 
North,  5,  6;  need  of  in  South, 
5 ;  casuistical  defense  of  by 
church,  5 ;  advantages  and  dis 
advantages  of  to  negro,  5 '  re 
sponsibility  for  denied  by  North 
and  South,  6;  commercial  de- 

-  mand  for  overrides  humanity,  6; 
_  unprofitable  in  New  England,  6; 
social  conscience  unawakened  to 
enormity  of,  7;  Sewall  and 
Woolman  protest  against,  7; 
relation  of  Quakers  to,  7 ; 
awakening  to  wrongs  of,  8; 
abolished  in  Mass.,  9;  Jefferson 
strives  to  limit  territory  of,  9; 
limited,  10;  impossible  for  con 
vention  of  1787  to  prohibit,  14; 
compromised,  14  ff;  views  of 
Washington  and  other  leaders 
on,  15;  Patrick  Henry's  views 
on,  Franklin  labors  against,  19; 

v»early  anti-slavery  sentiment,  20 ; 
abol.  in  Northern  and  Middle 
States,  20 ;  question  temporarily 
eclipsed,  21 ;  estab.  in  Kentucky, 
abol.  in  Spanish  America,  22; 
question  again  to  the  front 


(1819),  23;  defended  in  Con 
gress,  all  ideas  of  abolishing 
dropped  in  South,  growth  of 
sentiment  against  in  North,  24; 
Jefferson  supports,  25 ;  Clay  sup 
ports,  26 ;  growth  of  question 
from  1832,  28;  South  fully  ac 
cepts  and  defends,  46  ff;  views 
of  Jos.  LeConte,  Frederic  Law 
Olmsted,  and  C.  C.  Jones  on, 
49;  theory  of  adopted  by  slave 
holders,  50;  abolished  in  West 
Indies,  51;  Garrison's  fight 
against,  51  ff;  defense  of 
strengthened  in  South,  54 ;  un 
derlying  principles  of;  tide  of 
public  opinion  sets  against,  70; 
question  grows  in  prominence, 
71  ff;  freedom  of  speech  on 
denied  in  South,  73;  Calhoun's 
claim  for  nationalization  of,  80; 
excluded  from  new  territory  ac 
quired  by  purchase,  80;  opposi 
tion  of  Seward  and  Chase  to, 
83;  as  it  was,  depicted  by  Mrs. 
Burton  Harrison,  100;  depicted 
in  biography  of  Thomas  Dab- 
ney,  100  ff;  described  by  Fanny 
Kemble.  103  ff;  pictured  by 
Frederic  Law  Olmsted,  107  ff; 
Harriet  Beecher  Stowe's  opinion 
of  embodied  in  "  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin,"  109;  general  view  of  in 
South,  133;  attitude  of  clergy 
toward,  141 ;  hostility  toward  in 
South,  170;  the  great  cause  of 
difference  between  North  and 
South,  207,  211 ;  restriction  of 
the  supreme  principle  of  Repub 
lican  party,  212 ;  measures  upon 
during  Civil  war,  249,  250; 
Lincoln's  attitude  toward,  250; 
abolished  in  Dist,  of  Columbia, 
251;  finally  and  forever  abol 
ished  in  U.  S.,  276. 
Slaves  (See  also  NEGROES,  SLA 
VERY,  SOUTH,  SLAVE  TRADE)  ,  Af 
rica  source  of,  5;  indolence  and 
unthrift  of,  5;  Virginia  taxes,  6; 
foundation  of  aristocracy  in 
Virginia  and  Carolinas,  6;  un 
profitable  as  laborers  in  New 
Eng.,  6;  Virginia  and  Mary 
land  forbid  importation  of,  9; 
Jefferson  proposes  plan  for 


Index 


gradual  emancipation  of,  9; 
Virginia  passes  law  regulating 
manumission  of,  9;  numbers  of 
in  various  States  in  1790,  9; 
counted  in  determining  repre 
sentation  in  Congress,  u,  12; 
Jefferson's  schemes  for  emanci 
pation  and  disposition  of,  17  ff; 
value  of  increased  by  invention 
of  cotton  gin,  23 ;  fugitive,  over 
tures  made  to  England  for 
treaty  on,  28;  instruction  of 
denied  in  Virginia,  44;  physical 
and  moral  condition  of,  48. 

Slave  States,  23. 

Slave  trade,  begun  by  Europe, 
brutality  of,  5 ;  maintained  by 
Eng.  trading  companies,  colon 
ists  attempt  to  check,  5;  New 
Eng.  in,  6;  Virginia  remon 
strates  against,  8;  clause  in 
Declaration  of  Independence  de 
nouncing,  suppressed;  Mass.,  R. 
I.,  and  Middle  States  in;  de 
nounced  by  Dr.  Hopkins,  9; 
Congress  refused  power  to  for 
bid  until  1808;  North  aids  ex 
treme  South  in  fight  to  pro 
long;  champions  of  defend  only 
as  necessary  evil,  13 ;  stopped  in 
Virginia  and  Maryland,  20; 
made  piracy  by  Congress  (1800), 
22;  revival  of  between  Africa 
and  Cuba,  158;  checked,  159. 

Slave-trading  companies,  Eng 
lish,  5 ;  oppose  tax  on  slaves,  6. 

Smith,  Caleb  B.,  supports  Lincoln, 
191. 

Smith,  Gerritt,  characterized  by 
Andrew  D.  White,  55  ff;  sup 
ports  John  Brown,  160,  168. 

Smith,  Wilfred  H.,  379- 

Soule,  Pierre,  in  Congress,  89; 
with  Buchanan  and  Mason  issues 
Ostend  manifesto,  128. 

"Souls  of  Black  Folk,  The,"  an 
appeal  for  higher  education  of 
negro,  398. 

South.  (See  also  VIRGINIA,  etc., 
SLAVERY,  etc.)  Economic  con 
ditions  in  favor  slavery,  5;  de 
mands  Congress  be  refused  right 
to  forbid  slave  trade,  12;  all 
ideas  of  abolishing  slave  trade 
dropped  in,  24 ;  aggrieved  by 


protective  tariff,  32;  leadership 
of  passes  to  So.  Carolina,  44,  229 ; 
fully  accepts  slavery  as  estab. 
institution,  46  ff;  strengthens 
defense  of  slavery,  54;  eco 
nomic  disadvantages  of,  69  ff; 
disputes  new  territory  with 
North,  attempts  to  nationalize 
slavery,  80;  opposes  admission 
of  Calif,  as  free  State,  demands 
allowance  of  slavery  in  Utah 
and  New  Mexico,  84 ;  demands 
fugitive  slave  law,  85 ;  leaders  of 
in  Congress  (1850),  threatens 
disunion,  89;  denounces  "Per 
sonal  Liberty  Laws,"  91 ;  North 
outstrips  in  industrial  growth ; 
advantages  of  over  North,  94; 
master  class  in  analyzed  by 
Fanny  Kemble,  105  ff;  surprised 
by  Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  113; 
anti-slavery  sentiment  com 
pletely  ostracized  in,  129;  sup 
pression  of  free  speech  in,  130; 
leaders  of  (1850-60),  132;  mag 
nifies  State  rights;  general  view 
of  slavery  in,  133;  apprehensive 
of  growing  hostility  in  North, 
134;  clergy  in  united  in  defense 
of  slavery,  141 ;  economic  con 
ditions  in  compared  with  North 
in  Impending  Crisis,  156;  hostil 
ity  in  toward  North  increased 
by  Brown's  raid,  167,  169-70; 
misconceived  by  abolitionists, 
168 ;  renewed  outbreaks  in 
against  anti-slavery  men,  169: 
antagonism  toward  slave  power 
in,  170;  solidarity  against  North 
created  by  Brown's  raid,  170: 
presents  ultimatum  in  Senate 
(1859),  184;  demands  protec 
tion  of  slave-holding  right  in  all 
territories,  185 ;  power  of  in  de 
mocracy  and  state,  185 ;  growing 
hostility  in,  expulsion  of  anti- 
slavery  men,  186;  extreme, 
breaks  up  Democratic  party, 
conjectural  reasons  for  move. 
187;  Alex.  H.  Stephens  explains 
move,  189;  open  threats  of 
secession  in,  193 ;  position  of  on 
secession,  etc.,  defined,  197  ff; 
underlying  divergences  from 
North  in  sentiment  and  char- 


432 


Index 


acter,  205  ff;  ideal  of  society  in, 
205 ;  religious  life  and  literature 
in,  206;  inflamed  against  North, 
sources  of  misunderstanding, 
207;  plantation  life  in  at  best, 
208;  concentration  of  interest  in 
on  national  politics,  208;  con 
centrates  on  secession  move 
ment,  209  j  duelling  and  street 
affrays  common  in,  209;  men 
of  in  Texas,  in  Mexican  war, 
and  as  "filibusters,"  209-10; 
believes  all  war-spirit  extinct  in 
North,  210;  causes  of  united 
action  in,  211;  North  impatient 
of  political  dominance  of,  212; 
patriotic  sentiment  still  power 
ful  in,  214;  disunion  sentiment 
strongest  in  Gulf  and  Cotton 
States,  214;  reasons  for  suc 
cess  of  secession  movement 
in,  218  ff;  leaders  of  resign 
from  Buchanan's  cabinet,  224; 
leaders  of  in  Congress  favor 
secession,  last  formal  pre 
sentation  of  ultimatum  of  in 
Senate,  225;  general  sentiment 
in  against  armed  repression  of 
secession,  227;  So.  Carolina 
leader  of,  229;  views  on  Civil 
war  in,  237;  bitterness  against 
North  in,  241 ;  moral  effect  of 
war  on,  244;  courage  of  in  war, 
262;  advantages  of  North  over, 
264;  social  conditions  in  after 
war,  275;  State  legislatures  and 
conventions  resumed  in,  275, 
276;  I3th  amendment  ratified 
in  276;  Senators  from  refused 
admission  to  Congress,  218 ;  re 
ports  of  Gen.  Grant  and  Carl 
Schurz  on  conditions  in  after 
war,  286  ff;  views  of  on  negro 
labor,  287 ;  laws  governing  negro 
labor  in  after  war,  association  of 
whites  and  negroes  forbidden 
in,  290 ;  Congressional  represent, 
of  conditioned  on  negro  suffrage 
by  I4th  amendment,  298 ;  pro 
posed  to  refuse  suffrage  to 
leaders  of,  299;  mistake  of  such 
course,  301 ;  excepting  Tennes 
see,  rejects  I4th  amendment, 
304;  reconstruction  of,  see  Re 


construction  ;  government  of 
under  reconstruction  bill  begins, 
307,  310;  number  of  negro 
voters  in  various  States  of,  311; 
trials  and  struggles  of  under 
new  conditions,  under  martial 
law,  restored  to  self-government, 
316;  unfitness  of  negroes  in  for 
suffrage,  whites  refuse  to  vote, 
constitutional  conventions  held 
and  negro  delegates  chosen,  317; 
typical  attitude  of  whites  in ; 
under  "carpet  bag"  rule,  318. 
332;  Northern  immigration  into, 
319;  Northern  teachers  insulted 
or  disdained  in;  Northerners  in 
politics  in ;  legislation  in  during 
reconstruction,  320 ;  extrava 
gance,  waste  and  corruption  in 
under  Republican  governments ; 
exaggeration  of,  321 ;  negro  rule 
in>  3i9>  321 ;  resumption  of 
white  leadership  in,  322  ff;  con 
tinued  interference  of  Congress 
in,  326;  growth  of  Republican 
opposition  to  Federal  interfer 
ence  in;  repudiation  in,  332; 
Democrats  organize  resistance 
to  Republican  rule  in  and  prac 
tice  intimidation,  339  ff ;  Federal 
troops  withdrawn  from,  353; 
regeneration  of,  354;  whites  in 
driven  to  labor,  355;  end  of 
Federal  interference  in,  371,  402 ; 
negro  suffrage  practically  nulli 
fied  in,  civil  rights  secured  to 
negroes,  372,  382,  388;  refuses 
social  equality  to  negro,  373, 
407-8;  fear  of  race  mixture  in, 
374,  407;  development  of  in 
dustrial  democracy  in,  379;  pres 
ent  condition  of  politics  in,  379 
ff;  why  "solid,"  380;  life  in  di 
versifying,  growth  of  literature 
in,  380;  growth  of  standard  of 
education  in,  381 ;  widening  gulf 
between  the  races  in,  382 ;  legal 
and  practical  limitation  of  suf 
frage  in,  382  ff,  388;  efforts  in 
to  restrict  negro  education,  385 ; 
negro  still  has  industrial  free 
dom  in,  385,  395 ;  pronounced  at 
titude  of  on  social  inferiority  of 
negro,  386;  hopes  for  better 


Index 


433 


conditions,  growth  of  goodwill 
and  confidence  in,  389;  amount 
spent  by  for  negro  education, 
397;  educational  and  industrial 
problems  of,  397  ff;  suffrage 
laws  in,  400;  politics  in,  no 
longer  a  struggle  between 
whites  and  blacks,  401 ;  scheme 
to  reduce  representation  of 
under  i4th  amendment,  403; 
government  aid  to  education  in 
advocated,  404;  disproportion 
ate  share  of  national  expense 
borne  by,  405 ;  problem  of  social 
equal,  of  races  in,  406  ff. 

South  Carolina  (see  also  CAROLI- 
NAS,  THE),  demands  representa 
tion  based  on  slave  numbers,  II ; 
refuses  to  join  Union  if  slave 
trade  forbidden,  12 ;  revolts  over 
tariff,  claims  right  of  nullifica 
tion,  32;  passes  law  against 
negro  seamen,  73;  considers 
secession,  221 ;  passes  ordinance 
of  secession,  223;  occupies  Ft. 
Moultrie  and  Castle  Pinckney, 
224;  leads  South,  229;  emanci 
pation  in,  260;  provisional  gov 
ernment  formed  in,  275 ;  recon 
structed,  310;  negro  voters  in 
majority  in,  311 ;  under  "  carpet 
bag,"  rule,  332  ff;  Presidential 
and  State  vote  of  contested 
(1876),  348  ff;  legal  limitation 
of  suffrage  in,  383. 

Southern  Democracy,  asserts  uni 
versal  right  of  slave-holding, 
186. 

"  Southern  Planter,  A,"  100. 

"  Southern  Statesmen  of  the  Old 
Regime,"  137. 

Speed,  Joshua  F.,  178;  resigns 
from  cabinet,  303. 

Springfield  Republican,  124  and 
note,  127 ;  its  opinion  of  John 
Brown,  162;  state's  issue  be 
tween  Democrats  and  Republi 
cans  in  1864,  265 ;  favors  educa 
tional  test  for  suffrage,  308,  310; 
prophesies  slave-holding  class 
will  regain  power,  322 ;  sup 
ports  Independent  Republicans, 
328;  on  Hayes-Tilden  contest, 


Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  Attorney- 
General,  224;  in  Lincoln's  cabi 
net,  249;  attitude  of  on  eman 
cipation  proclamation,  257;  in 
Johnson's  cabinet,  274;  sup 
ports  Johnson  in  reconstruction 
plans,  276;  becomes  bitterly 
opposed  to  Johnson,  303;  re 
moved  by  Johnson,  311. 

"  Star  of  the  West,"  sent  with 
supplies  to  Anderson,  driven 
from  Charleston  harbor,  224. 

State  rights,  theory  of,   133. 

States,  relative  power  of  in  Con 
gress  determined,  n. 

Stearns,  George  L.,  supports 
John  Brown,  160. 

Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  sketch 
of  his  life  and  views,  137  ff; 
political  activity  of,  138;  in 
Congress,  and  Vice-President  of 
Confederacy,  139,  227;  explains 
defection  of  Southern  Demo 
crats,  189;  supports  Douglas  in 
1860  campaign,  193;  opposes 
secession,  211,  215;  labors 
against  secession,  219,  221,  225; 
Vice-President  of  Southern 
Confederacy,  227;  pleads  for 
negro  rights,  302. 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  Republican 
leader  in  Penn.,  276;  leader  of 
House,  281;  sketch  of,  282;  op 
poses  Pres.  Johnson's  recon 
struction  plan,  285 ;  his  drastic 
reconstruction  bill  defeated,  306; 
House  prosecutor  of  Johnson, 
311;  death  of,  331. 

Story,  Judge,  on  taxes  in  Miss., 
336. 

Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher,  publishes 
"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  97 ;  her 
views  of  slavery  as  pictured 
therein,  109;  publishes  "  Dred," 
123. 

Suffrage,  manhood,  adopted,  21 ; 
equal,  without  test  passed  in 
North,  308;  negro,  representa 
tion  ofsouth  conditioned  on, 
298;  proposal  to  refuse  to 
leaders  of  South,  299 — see  also 
Amendments,  Constitutional ; 
Springfield  Republican  favors 
educational  test  for,  308,  310; 


434 


Index 


unfitness  of  negroes  in  South 
for  after  war,  317;  of  negroes 
practically  nullified  in  South, 
372;  legal  limitation  of  in 
South,  382  ff;  388.  -**/•»? 

Sumner,  Charles,  opinion  of  aboli 
tionists,  54;  joins  "  Free  Soil" 
party,  81 ;  in  Senate,  92 ;  de 
nounces  slavery  in  Congress,  as 
saulted  by  Brooks,  122;  in  Re 
publican  party,  127 ;  opposes 
admission  of  Senators  from 
Confederate  States,  270;  Lin 
coln  refuses  to  quarrel  with, 
270 ;  Republican  leader  in 
Mass.,  276;  sketch  of,  282;  in 
Senate,  284;  opposes  Pres. 
Johnson's  reconstruction  plan, 
286;  belief  of  in  Republican 
party,  309;  quarrels  with  Grant, 
328;  death  of,  331. 

Sumner,  Colonel,  in  Kansas,  118. 

TANEY,  Chief  Justice,  in  Dred 
Scott  case,  147. 

Tappan,  Arthur,   40,   44. 

Tappan,  Lewis,  44. 

Tariff,  of  abominations,  32;  pro 
tective,  31  ff;  compromise  on, 
33  ff;  supported  in  Georgia, 
21 1 ;  adopted  by  Republican 
party,  190;  burden  of  to  South, 
405. 

Taylor,  Zachary  (Gen.),  76;  nomi 
nated  by  Whigs,  81 ;  elected,  82 ; 
denounces  threats  of  disunion 
as  treason,  89 ;  favors  admission 
of  Calif,  as  free  State,  90; 
death  of,  90;  in  North,  208. 

Tennessee,  added  as  slave  State, 
23;  votes  against  holding  seces 
sion  convention,  227;  secedes, 
235;  provisional  govt.  estab.  in, 
267,  275;  rights  of  negro  con 
served  in,  302;  readmitted  un 
der  I4th  amendment,  303. 

Tenure  of  office  law,  passed; 
Pres.  Johnson  accused  of  vio 
lating,  311. 

Territories,  power  of  Congress 
over,  149. 

Texas,  annexation  of,  74  ff;  slav 
ery  re-estab.  in,  75;  becomes  a 
state,  76;  emancipation  in,  260; 
silent  on  I3th  amendment,  262; 


provisional  govt.  of,  275;  re 
constructed,  310;  relative  num 
ber  of  negro  voters  in,  311;  un 
der  martial  law,  316;  becomes 
Democratic,  323. 

Thayer,  Eli,  originates  New  Eng. 
Emigrant  Aid  Society,  116. 

Thomas,  Lorenzo  (Gen.),  Sec'y 
of  War,  311. 

Thompson,  George,  aids  Garrison, 

51- 

Thompson,  Richard  W.,  Sec'y  of 
Navy  under  Hayes,  353. 

Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  leader  of 
Democrats,  313;  nominated  for 
President;  characterized;  appar 
ently  elected,  347;  election  con 
tested,  348  ff. 

Tomlinson,  Reuben,  Repub.  candi 
date  for  governor  of  S.  Caro 
lina,  332. 

Toombs,  Robert,  sketch  of,  136  ff ; 
political  activity  of,  138;  gives 
moral  support  to  Preston 
Brooks,  138;  in  Confederate 
cabinet  and  army,  139,  227;  sup 
ports  Breckinridge  in  1860  cam 
paign,  193;  advocates  secession 
in  Georgia  legislature,  211; 
supports  secession  movement, 
221 ;  states  South's  ultimatum 
in  Congress,  225 ;  in  Confederate 
cabinet,  227. 

Trade  unions,  attitude  of  toward 
negroes,  385,  395;  danger  of 
excluding  negroes  from,  396. 

Trumbull,  Lyman,  elected  Sena 
tor,  177;  favors  admission  of 
Senators  from  Louisiana,  270; 
in  Senate,  283,  284,  285;  favors 
Freedmen's  Bureau  bill,  294; 
votes  to  acquit  Pres.  Johnson, 
312;  in  opposition  to  adminis 
tration,  331. 

Tuskegee  Institute,  378;  function 
of,  398. 

Truth,  Sojourner,  96. 

"Twenty  Years  of  Congress," 
Elaine's,  quoted,  307,  310. 

Tyler,  John,  becomes  President, 
71. 

"UNCLE  TOM'S  CABIN,"  97  ff;  re 
ception,  98 ;  "  Key  to,"  99 ; 
criticism  of,  99. 


Index 


435 


Underground  railroad,  the,  85. 
Unionism,     spirit     of     strong     in 

white   laboring  class   of   South, 

214;  strength  of  at  North,  218, 

248. 

Unitarians,  143. 
"Up      from      Slavery,"      Booker 

Washington's      personal     story 

told  in,  378. 
Utah,   South  demands  permission 

of  slavery  in,  84. 


VAN  BUREN,  Martin,  30;  becomes 
President,  71 ;  receives  "  Free 
Soil"  nomination,  82. 

Van  Winkle,  Senator,  votes  to 
acquit  Pres.  Johnson,  312. 

Vardaman,    Gov.,    of    Mississippi, 

J88-  . 
Virginia,  tries  to  discourage  slave 

trade  by  tax ;  slave  labor  foun 
dation  of  aristocracy  in,  6;  re 
monstrates  against  continuance 
of  slave  trade,  8;  forbids  im 
portation  of  slaves,  passes  law 
regarding  manumission  of 
slaves,  number  of  slaves  in  1790, 
9;  against  strengthening  the 
slave  power,  n;  protests  against 
restraint  of  Congress  to  forbid 
slave  trade,  12;  consents  (1778) 
to  abolish  slave  trade,  18;  stops 
importing  slaves,  20;  conven 
tion  for  revis.  of  constitution, 
41 ;  general  emancipation  de 
bated,  42  ff;  plans  for  fail,  43; 
passes  severe  laws  against  in 
citement  to  rebel,  instruction  of 
slaves,  etc.,  loses  leadership 
of  South,  44;  Mrs.  Burton  Har 
rison's  personal  reminiscences 
of  before  the  war,  100;  calls 
convention  to  consider  seces 
sion,  222;  calls  peace  congress, 
228 ;  secedes,  235 ;  emancipation 
in,  260;  loyal  State  govt.  in 
recognized,  275;  delays  her  final 
restoration  to  Union,  310;  rela 
tive  number  of  negro  voters  in, 
311;  under  martial  law,  316: 
Democrats  regain,  323 ;  legal 
limitation  of  suffrage  in,  383; 
co-operation  of  whites  and 
negroes  for  good  govt.  in,  401. 


WADE,  Benjamin,  in  Senate,  114; 
in  Republican  party,  127;  favors 
radical  reconstruction,  270 ;  in 
U.  S.  Senate,  283,  285. 

Walker,  Boston  negro,  issues 
Appeal,  41. 

Walker,  Robert  J.,  117;  appointed 
governor  of  Kansas,  150;  de 
feats  fraud  in  ballot,  and  is  de 
serted  by  Buchanan,  152. 

War,  terrors  of.  See  CIVIL  WAR, 
237  ff. 

"War  Between  the  States,"  by 
Alex.  H.  Stephens,  189. 

"  War   Democrats,"    194,  253. 

Warmouth,  Henry  C,  in  govt.  of 
Louisiana,  341. 

Warner,  Col.,  in  govt.  of  Miss., 
336. 

Warren,  Henry  W.,  in  govt.  of 
Miss.,  336,  337;  on  conditions 
and  experiences  in  Miss,  during 
reconstruction,  337  ff. 

Washburn,  Israel,  Jr.,  helps  or 
ganize  Republican  party,  114. 

Washington,  city  of,  threatened 
by  Confederates,  237. 

Washington,  George,  2 ;  opinion 
of  New  Englanders,  2 ;  concep 
tion  of  liberty  and  of  slavery, 
3;  favors  Revolution,  8;  against 
strengthening  slave  power,  n; 
views  of  on  slavery,  15;  private 
life  and  character  of,  15  ff;  his 
treatment  of  his  slaves,  frees 
them,  16;  on  necessity  of  abol 
ishing  slavery,  391. 

Washington,  Booker  T.,  pupil  of 
and  successor  to  Gen.  Arm 
strong;  his  aims  and  methods; 
personal  story  of,  378;  enter 
tained  by  Pres.  Roosevelt, 
386. 

Watterson,  Henry,  in  Hayes-Til- 
den  contest,  352. 

Webster,  Daniel,  defends  protec 
tive  tariff,  32;  debate  with 
Hayne,  33;  his  public  life  char 
acterized,  64  ff;  7th  of  March 
speech  on  slavery  questions,  87 ; 
defects  of  speech,  88;  political 
and  moral  characteristics  of, 
88;  in  Fillmore's  cabinet,  90; 
allied  with  upper  classes,  92 ;  as 
Pres.  candidate  defeated  in 


436 


Index 


Whig  convention  (1852),  92; 
death  of,  93. 

Weed,  Thurlow,  votes  for  Tay 
lor,  82;  helps  prolong  Whig  or 
ganization  in  N.  Y.,  115;  sup 
ports  Pres.  Johnson,  303. 

Weld,  Theodore   D.,   37. 

Whig  party  (see  also  WHIGS),  be 
ginnings  of,  31 ;  on  verge  of 
dissolution,  93;  end  of,  153. 

Whigs,  nominate  Gay,  75;  gain 
majority  in  House,  79;  nominate 
Tavlor,  81 ;  nominate  Gen. 
Winfield  Scott;  defeated  by 
combined  Democrats  and  "  Free 
Soilers,"  92;  vote  against  Kan 
sas-Nebraska  bill,  114;  unite 
with  "  Free  Soilers "  to  form 
Republican  party ;  organization 
prolonged  in  N.  Y.,  115;  in  Re 
publican  party,  127. 

Whitman,  Walt,  volunteer  nurse, 
pen  picture  of  war,  247. 

Whitney,  Eli,  23. 

Whittier,  John  G.,  joins  anti-slav 
ery  movement,  44,  56;  criticises 
Webster  in  poem  "Ichabod," 


88;  poem  on  settlement  of 
West,  116;  in  first  Republican 
campaign,  130;  his  labors  for 
freedom,  144. 

Wilmot  proviso,  80. 

Wilson,  Henry,  joins  "  Free  Soil " 
party,  81 ;  elected  Senator,  115; 
sketch  of,  283 ;  opposes  Pres. 
Johnson's  plan  of  reconstruc 
tion,  286;  against  exclusion 
clauses  in  I4th  amendment,  302. 

Wilson,  Woodrow,  "  History  of 
the  American  People,"  criti 
cised,  334. 

Wise,  Henry  A.,  opinion  of  John 
Brown,  164. 

Wise,  John  S.,  shows  effects  of 
John  Brown's  raid  in  South, 
169;  criticises  Bourbonism  in 
Southern  politics,  388. 

Women's  rights,  56;  cause  ad 
vanced,  94. 

Wood,  Fernando,  352. 

Woolman,  John,  protests  against 
slavery,  7. 

Woplsey,  Theodore  D.,  36. 

Wright,   Elizur,  44. 


THE    END 


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